Amos 4

SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL CORRUPTION

4Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan^ab

who are on the hill of Samaria,

women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,^ac

who say to their husbands,

“Bring us something to drink.”^ad

²The Lord God has sworn^ae by his holiness:^af

Look, the days are coming^D

when you will be taken away with hooks,^ag

every last one of you with fishhooks.^ah

³You will go through breaches in the wall,^ai

each woman straight ahead,

and you will be driven along toward Harmon.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁴Come to Bethel and rebel;

rebel even more at Gilgal!^aj

Bring your sacrifices every morning,^ak

your tenths every three days.

⁵Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice,^al

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,^am

for that is what you Israelites love to do!^an

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

GOD’S DISCIPLINE AND ISRAEL’S APOSTASY

⁶I gave you absolutely nothing to eat^Aao

in all your cities,

a shortage of food in all your communities,

yet you did not return to me.^ap

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁷I also withheld the rain from you^aq

while there were still three months until harvest.

I sent rain on one city

but no rain on another.^ar

One field received rain

while a field with no rain withered.^a

⁸Two or three cities staggered

to another city to drink water^b

but were not satisfied,^c

yet you did not return^d to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁹I struck you with blight and mildew;^e

the locust devoured^f

your many gardens and vineyards,

your fig trees and olive trees,^g

yet you did not return to me.^h

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁰I sent plagues like those of Egypt;ⁱ

I killed your young men with the sword,^j

along with your captured horses.^k

I caused the stench of your camp

to fill your nostrils,^l

yet you did not return to me.^m

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹¹I overthrew some of you

as I^B overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,ⁿ

and you were like a burning stick

snatched from a fire,^o

yet you did not return to me^p—

This is the Lord’s declaration.

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

and since I will do that to you,

Israel, prepare to meet your God!^q

¹³He is here:

the one who forms the mountains,^r

creates the wind,^s

and reveals his thoughts to man,^t

the one who makes the dawn out of darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth.^u

The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.^v