Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
For three transgressions of ... Ammon. The Ammonites under Nahash attacked Jabesh-gilead, and refused to accept the offer of the latter to save them, unless the Jabesh-gileadites would put out all their right eyes, (1 Samuel 11:1, etc.) Saul rescued Jabesh-gilead. The Ammonites joined the Chaldeans in their invasion of Judea for the sake of plunder.
Because they have ripped up the women with child - foretold in Hosea 13:16: Hazael of Syria also perpetrated the same cruelty (2 Kings 8:12). Ammon's object in this cruel act was to leave Israel without "heir," so as to seize on Israel's inheritance, "Gad" and the other territory east of Jordan (Jeremiah 49:1). Since Hazael and Ammon were guilty of the same cruelty, probably Syria and Ammon were banded together, as in the days of David, for Israel's extermination.