Text: Amos 2:8
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 24:17
Subject: Garments taken in pledge from the poor
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Amos 2:8 denounces those who "lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge," directly violating Deuteronomy 24:17's prohibition against taking a widow's garment as pledge (לֹא תַחֲבֹל בֶּגֶד אַלְמָנָה, lo tachavol beged almanah). The Deuteronomic law protected the vulnerable by requiring creditors to return pledged garments before nightfall so the poor could sleep warm. Amos intensifies the indictment by revealing that these confiscated garments are not merely retained overnight but used in pagan worship at altars, compounding economic exploitation with idolatrous sacrilege.