back my wrath.’ The charge against Judah is one of the shortest of these eight oracles found in the opening chapters of Amos—and is the only one which fails to mention any sin against humanity. Despite this, there is nothing for Judah to be proud about because their censure is far, far worse. They, who ought to have known better, had ‘rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees’. Judah, like Israel, had been given the law of the Lord and they had promised to keep it (see Exod. 24:7).