Amos 4
English Standard Version
4 “Hear this word, (A)you cows of Bashan,
who are (B)on the mountain of Samaria,
(C)who oppress the poor, (D)who crush the needy,
who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
2 (E)The Lord God has sworn by his holiness
that, behold, the days are coming upon you,
(F)when they shall take you away with hooks,
(G)even the last of you with fishhooks.
3 (H)And you shall go out through the breaches,
each one straight ahead;
and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”
declares the Lord.
4 (I)“Come to Bethel, and transgress;
to (J)Gilgal, and multiply transgression;
(K)bring your (L)sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;
5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of (M)that which is leavened,
and proclaim (N)freewill offerings, publish them;
(O)for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”
declares the Lord God.
Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord
6 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and (P)lack of bread in all your places,
(Q)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
7 “I also (R)withheld the rain from you
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
(S)I would send rain on one city,
and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
8 so two or three cities (T)would wander to another city
to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
(U)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
9 (V)“I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees (W)the locust devoured;
(X)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
10 “I sent among you a pestilence (Y)after the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
and (Z)carried away your horses,[a]
and (AA)I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
(AB)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
11 “I overthrew some of you,
(AC)as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were (AD)as a brand[b] plucked out of the burning;
(AE)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
Amos 4
The Message
You Never Got Hungry for God
4 “Listen to this, you cows of Bashan
grazing on the slopes of Samaria.
You women! Mean to the poor,
cruel to the down-and-out!
Indolent and pampered, you demand of your husbands,
‘Bring us a tall, cool drink!’
2-3 “This is serious—I, God, have sworn by my holiness!
Be well warned: Judgment Day is coming!
They’re going to rope you up and haul you off,
keep the stragglers in line with cattle prods.
They’ll drag you through the ruined city walls,
forcing you out single file,
And kick you to kingdom come.”
God’s Decree.
4-5 “Come along to Bethel and sin!
And then to Gilgal and sin some more!
Bring your sacrifices for morning worship.
Every third day bring your tithe.
Burn pure sacrifices—thank offerings.
Speak up—announce freewill offerings!
That’s the sort of religious show
you Israelites just love.”
God’s Decree.
6 “You know, don’t you, that I’m the One
who emptied your pantries and cleaned out your cupboards,
Who left you hungry and standing in bread lines?
But you never got hungry for me. You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
7-8 “Yes, and I’m the One who stopped the rains
three months short of harvest.
I’d make it rain on one village
but not on another.
I’d make it rain on one field
but not on another—and that one would dry up.
People would stagger from village to village
crazed for water and never quenching their thirst.
But you never got thirsty for me.
You ignored me.”
God’s Decree.
9 “I hit your crops with disease
and withered your orchards and gardens.
Locusts devoured your olive and fig trees,
but you continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
10 “I revisited you with the old Egyptian plagues,
killed your choice young men and prize horses.
The stink of rot in your camps was so strong
that you held your noses—
But you didn’t notice me.
You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
11 “I hit you with earthquake and fire,
left you devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick
snatched from the flames.
But you never looked my way.
You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
12 “All this I have done to you, Israel,
and this is why I have done it.
Time’s up, O Israel!
Prepare to meet your God!”
13 Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker!
He laid out the whole plot before Adam.
He brings everything out of nothing,
like dawn out of darkness.
He strides across the alpine ridges.
His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson