Add parallel Print Page Options

Listen to this, you cows of Bashan,
who are on the mountain of Samaria,
    you women who are oppressing the poor,
    who are crushing the needy,
    who say to your husbands, “Bring us more drinks!”
The Lord God swears by his holiness:
    The days are surely coming against you,
    when they will drag you away with hooks,
    every last one of you with fishhooks.
You will go out through the broken-down walls.
    Each woman will go straight ahead,
    and you will be thrown out[a] toward Harmon,[b]
    declares the Lord.

Go to Bethel and rebel.
    Rebel even more at Gilgal.
    Bring your sacrifices every morning,
    your tithes every third day.
Burn some leavened bread as a thank offering,
    and proclaim voluntary offerings—announce them!
    For you love to do this, you people of Israel,
    says the Lord God.

Warnings Produce No Repentance

I am the one who gave to you clean teeth[c] in all of your cities,
    and lack of food in all your places,
    but you did not return to me,
    declares the Lord.

I am the one who withheld the rain from you
    while there were still three months before the harvest.
    I would send rain on one city,
    but on another city I would not send rain.
    One plot of ground would receive rain,
    but another plot, on which it did not rain, would dry up.
Whenever people from two or three cities staggered to another city to get water to drink,
    they would not have enough,
    but you did not return to me,
    declares the Lord.

I struck you with blight and mildew.
    Your many gardens, your vineyards, your fig trees,
    and your olive trees were devoured by locusts,
    but you did not return to me,
    declares the Lord.

10 I sent plagues against you like the plagues in Egypt.
    I killed your best soldiers with the sword,
    together with your captured horses.
    I made the stench of your camp rise up into your nostrils,
    but you did not return to me,
    declares the Lord.

11 I overthrew some of you,
    just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you became like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
    but you did not return to me,
    declares the Lord.

12 Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel.
    Yes, this is what I will do to you:
    Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 Indeed, he who forms mountains and who creates wind,
    who declares his thoughts to mankind,
    who turns dawn into darkness,
    and who treads down the high places of the earth,
    the Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 4:3 In the Hebrew text the verb is active, you will throw. The translation follows the Greek text.
  2. Amos 4:3 The meaning of the word Harmon is uncertain. It may be a place name or mean something like garbage dump.
  3. Amos 4:6 A striking description of people who have no food to chew

Israel Has Not Returned to God

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan(A) on Mount Samaria,(B)
    you women who oppress the poor(C) and crush the needy(D)
    and say to your husbands,(E) “Bring us some drinks!(F)
The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:
    “The time(G) will surely come
when you will be taken away(H) with hooks,(I)
    the last of you with fishhooks.[a]
You will each go straight out
    through breaches in the wall,(J)
    and you will be cast out toward Harmon,[b]
declares the Lord.
“Go to Bethel(K) and sin;
    go to Gilgal(L) and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,(M)
    your tithes(N) every three years.[c](O)
Burn leavened bread(P) as a thank offering
    and brag about your freewill offerings(Q)
boast about them, you Israelites,
    for this is what you love to do,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city
    and lack of bread in every town,
    yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(R)

“I also withheld(S) rain from you
    when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
    but withheld it from another.(T)
One field had rain;
    another had none and dried up.
People staggered from town to town for water(U)
    but did not get enough(V) to drink,
    yet you have not returned(W) to me,”
declares the Lord.(X)

“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
    destroying them with blight and mildew.(Y)
Locusts(Z) devoured your fig and olive trees,(AA)
    yet you have not returned(AB) to me,”
declares the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues(AC) among you
    as I did to Egypt.(AD)
I killed your young men(AE) with the sword,
    along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench(AF) of your camps,
    yet you have not returned to me,”(AG)
declares the Lord.(AH)

11 “I overthrew some of you
    as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.(AI)
You were like a burning stick(AJ) snatched from the fire,
    yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(AK)

12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
    and because I will do this to you, Israel,
    prepare to meet your God.”

13 He who forms the mountains,(AL)
    who creates the wind,(AM)
    and who reveals his thoughts(AN) to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
    and treads on the heights of the earth(AO)
    the Lord God Almighty is his name.(AP)

Footnotes

  1. Amos 4:2 Or away in baskets, / the last of you in fish baskets
  2. Amos 4:3 Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew (see Septuagint) out, you mountain of oppression
  3. Amos 4:4 Or days