“I saw the Lord standing upon the altar [mizbe’aḥ]” (Amos 9:1); He was standing over the generation to slaughter it [lezovḥo]. “He said: Strike the apex and the thresholds will quake” (Amos 9:1); “strike the apex,” this is Josiah; “and the thresholds will quake,” these are his legal advisers. “Shatter those [uvtzaam] who are at the head of them all” (Amos 9:1); Rabbi Shimon bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: This is analogous to a se’a container that was filled with iniquities.
Which of them prosecutes? It is robbery.9If one has a full slate of sins, the sin that most directly causes one to be prosecuted in heaven is robbery. This is derived because the word betza, which is the root word of the term uvtzaam, can mean ill-gotten monetary gain (see, e.g., Judges 5:19). Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: This is analogous to people among whom were those who engage in idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed; yet robbery is equivalent to them all.
Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi in the name of Rav Aḥa: Ezekiel enumerated twenty-four sins, and of them all, he concluded only with robbery. That is what is written: “Behold, I struck My hand due to your ill-gotten gain” (Ezekiel 22:13). Therefore, Moses cautioned Israel: “If you sell a sale item...[you shall not wrong one another].”