Amós 4

Social and Spiritual Corruption

1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan  * 4:1 Ps 22:12; Ezk 39:18

who are on the hill of Samaria,

women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,  * 4:1 Ex 23:3,6; Lv 19:15; 25:35; Dt 15:4–11; Am 5:11; 8:6

who say to their husbands,

"Bring us something to drink."  * 4:1 Am 2:8; 6:6

2 The Lord God has sworn  * 4:2 Am 6:8; 8:7 by his holiness:  * 4:2 Ps 89:35

Look, the days are coming  * 4:2 Lit coming on you

when you will be taken away with hooks,  * 4:2 Is 37:29; Ezk 38:4

every last one of you with fishhooks.  * 4:2 2Kg 19:28; 2Ch 33:10–11

3 You will go through breaches in the wall,  * 4:3 Jr 52:7

each woman straight ahead,

and you will be driven along toward Harmon.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

4 Come to Bethel and rebel;

rebel even more at Gilgal!  * 4:4 Am 5:5

Bring your sacrifices every morning,  * 4:4 Am 5:21–22

your tenths every three days.

5 Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice,  * 4:5 Lv 7:12

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,  * 4:5 Lv 22:18–21

for that is what you Israelites love to do!  * 4:5 Jr 7:9–10; Hs 9:1,10

This is the declaration of the Lord  God.

God’s Discipline and Israel’s Apostasy

6 I gave you absolutely nothing to eat  * 4:6 Lit you cleanness of teeth,* 4:6 Is 3:1; Jr 14:18 in all your cities,

a shortage of food in all your communities,

yet you did not return to me.  * 4:6 Is 9:13; Jr 5:3; Hg 2:17

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

7 I also withheld the rain from you  * 4:7 Jr 3:1–3; 5:23–25

while there were still three months until harvest.

I sent rain on one city

but no rain on another.  * 4:7 Ex 9:4,26; 10:22–23

One field received rain

while a field with no rain withered.  * 4:7 Lv 26:18–19; Jl 1:10–12

8 Two or three cities staggered

to another city to drink water  * 4:8 1Kg 18:5; Jr 14:4

but were not satisfied,  * 4:8 Ezk 4:16; Hg 1:6

yet you did not return  * 4:8 Jr 3:7 to me.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

9 I struck you with blight and mildew;  * 4:9 Dt 28:22; Hg 2:17

the locust devoured  * 4:9 Jl 1:4; Am 7:1–2

your many gardens and vineyards,

your fig trees and olive trees,  * 4:9 Dt 28:38–42; Jl 1:4–7,12

yet you did not return to me.  * 4:9 Jr 3:10

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

10 I sent plagues like those of Egypt;  * 4:10 Ex 11:4–5; Dt 28:27,60

I killed your young men with the sword,  * 4:10 Jr 11:22; 18:21; 48:15

along with your captured horses.  * 4:10 2Kg 13:3,7

I caused the stench of your camp

to fill your nostrils,  * 4:10 Is 34:3

yet you did not return to me.  * 4:10 Is 9:13

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

11 I overthrew some of you

as I  * 4:11 Lit God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,  * 4:11 Gn 19:24–25

and you were like a burning stick

snatched from a fire,  * 4:11 Zch 3:1–2

yet you did not return to me  * 4:11 Is 9:13  —

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

12 Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,

and since I will do that to you,

Israel, prepare to meet your God!  * 4:12 Is 32:11; 64:2; Jr 5:22

13 He is here:

the one who forms the mountains,  * 4:13 Jb 38:4–7; Ps 65:6; Is 40:12

creates the wind,  * 4:13 Ps 135:7

and reveals his thoughts to man,  * 4:13 Ps 139:2; Dn 2:30

the one who makes the dawn out of darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth.  * 4:13 Mc 1:3

The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.  * 4:13 Am 5:8–9,27; 9:5–6