Come to Bethel and rebel;
rebel even more at Gilgal!(A)
Bring your sacrifices every morning,(B)
your tenths every three days.
Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,(C)
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,(D)
for that is what you Israelites love to do!(E)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

God’s Discipline and Israel’s Apostasy

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat[a](F)
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to Me.(G)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I also withheld the rain from you(H)
while there were still three months until harvest.
I sent rain on one city
but no rain on another.(I)
One field received rain
while a field with no rain withered.(J)
Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water(K)
but were not satisfied,(L)
yet you did not return(M) to Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I struck you with blight and mildew;(N)
the locust devoured(O)
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,(P)
yet you did not return to Me.(Q)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

10 I sent plagues like those of Egypt;(R)
I killed your young men with the sword,(S)
along with your captured horses.(T)
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,(U)
yet you did not return to Me.(V)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

11 I overthrew some of you
as I[b] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,(W)
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,(X)
yet you did not return to Me(Y)
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!(Z)
13 He is here:
the One who forms the mountains,(AA)
creates the wind,(AB)
and reveals His[c] thoughts to man,(AC)
the One who makes the dawn out of darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth.(AD)
Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.(AE)

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 4:6 Lit you cleanness of teeth
  2. Amos 4:11 Lit God
  3. Amos 4:13 Or his

“Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgression![a] Bring your sacrifices in the morning and your tithes on the third day.[b] And bring a thank offering of unleavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, pronounce them, for so you love to do, O people[c] of Israel,” is the declaration of my Lord Yahweh. “And I[d] in turn gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. “And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest. And I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One tract of land will be rained on, and the tract of land on which it does not rain[e] will dry up. So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water and they were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. “I struck you with blight and with mildew. Frequently the cutting locust devoured your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 10 “I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 11 “I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a stick snatched from the fire, and yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 12 “Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel. Because I will do this to you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God! 13 Yes, here is the one who forms the mountains, and the one who creates the wind, and the one who reveals to humans what his thoughts are, and the one who treads on the heights of the earth; Yahweh, the God of hosts, is his name!”

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 4:4 Literally “increase to transgress”
  2. Amos 4:4 Literally “for three of days”
  3. Amos 4:5 Literally “children”
  4. Amos 4:6 Emphatic use of personal pronoun
  5. Amos 4:7 Literally “which does not rain down on it”