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
Easy-to-Read Version
The Women Who Love Pleasure
4 Listen to me, you cows of Bashan[a] on Samaria’s mountain. You hurt the poor and crush those in need. You tell your husbands,[b] “Bring us something to drink!”
2 The Lord God made a promise. He promised by his holiness that troubles will come to you. People will use hooks and take you away as prisoners. They will use fishhooks to take away your children. 3 Your city will be destroyed. The women will rush out through cracks in the wall and throw themselves onto the pile of dead bodies.[c]
This is what the Lord says: 4 “Go to Bethel and sin. Go to Gilgal[d] and sin even more. Offer your sacrifices in the morning. Bring a tenth of your crops for the three-day festival. 5 And offer a thank offering made with yeast. Tell everyone about the freewill offerings.[e] Israel, you love to do those things. So go and do them.” This is what the Lord God said.
6 “I didn’t give you any food to eat.[f] There was no food in any of your cities, but you didn’t come back to me.” This is what the Lord said.
7 “I also stopped the rain, and it was three months before harvest time. So no crops grew. Then I let it rain on one city, but not on another city. Rain fell on one part of the country, but on the other part of the country, the land became very dry. 8 So the people from two or three cities staggered to another city to get water, but there was not enough water for everyone. Still you didn’t come to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
9 “I made your crops die from heat and disease. I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards. Locusts ate your fig trees and olive trees. But you still didn’t come to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
10 “I sent diseases against you, as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with swords. I took away your horses. I made your camp smell very bad from all the dead bodies, but still you didn’t come back to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
11 “I destroyed you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And those cities were completely destroyed. You were like a burned stick pulled from a fire, but still you didn’t come back to me for help.” This is what the Lord says.
12 “So, Israel, this is what I will do to you. You people of Israel, prepare to meet your God.”
13 He is the one who made the mountains.
He created the wind.[g]
He lets people know his thoughts.
He changes the darkness into dawn.
He walks over the mountains of the earth.
His name is Yahweh, Lord God All-Powerful.
Footnotes
- Amos 4:1 cows of Bashan This means the wealthy women in Samaria. Bashan, an area east of the Jordan River, was famous for its big bulls and cows.
- Amos 4:1 your husbands Literally, “their masters.”
- Amos 4:3 throw … dead bodies Or “You will be thrown away. People will take you to Mount Hermon.” The Hebrew text here is hard to understand. It is not clear if the women will be “thrown away” or if the women will be “throwing something away.”
- Amos 4:4 Bethel … Gilgal Places of worship for the people of Israel. God wanted the people of Israel and the people of Judah to worship him only in the Temple at Jerusalem.
- Amos 4:5 Offer your sacrifices … freewill offerings All these things were against the Law of Moses. The leaders and false priests started these new festivals and different ways of worshiping God.
- Amos 4:6 I didn’t give you any food to eat Literally, “I gave you clean teeth.”
- Amos 4:13 the wind Or “your minds.”
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International