Amos 4

Israel's Guilt and Punishment

1 "Hear this word, h you cows of Bashan,
who are i on the mountain of Samaria,
j who oppress the poor, j who crush the needy,
who say to your husbands, 'Bring, that we may drink!'
 2 k The Lord God has sworn by his holiness
that, behold, the days are coming upon you,
l when they shall take you away with hooks,
l even the last of you with fishhooks.
 3 m And you shall go out through the breaches,
each one straight ahead;
and you shall be cast out into Harmon,"
declares the Lord.

4 n "Come to Bethel, and transgress;
to o Gilgal, and multiply transgression;
n bring your p sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;
 5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of q that which is leavened,
and proclaim r freewill offerings, publish them;
s 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 t lack of bread in all your places,
u yet you did not return to me,"
declares the Lord.

7 "I also v withheld the rain from you
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
w 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 x 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 y "I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees z the locust devoured;
u yet you did not return to me,"
declares the Lord.

10 "I sent among you a pestilence a after the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
and b carried away your horses, 1
and c I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
u yet you did not return to me,"
declares the Lord.

11 "I overthrew some of you,
d as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were e as a brand 2 plucked out of the burning;
u 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!"

13 For behold, f he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and g declares to man what is his thought,
h who makes the morning darkness,
and i treads on the heights of the earth -
j the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

  1. Cross References
    Psalms 22:12
    Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
  2. Cross References
    Amos 3:9
    Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.
    Amos 6:1
    Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
  3. Cross References
    Hosea 5:11
    Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.
  4. Cross References
    Hosea 5:11
    Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 89:35
    Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 16:16
    Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
    Habakkuk 1:15
    He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
    2 Kings 19:28
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 16:16
    Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
    Habakkuk 1:15
    He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
    2 Kings 19:28
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
  8. Cross References
    Ezekiel 12:5
    In their sight dig through the wall, and bring your baggage out through it.
    Ezekiel 12:12
    And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage upon his shoulder at dusk, and shall go out. They shall dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He shall cover his face, that he may not see the land with his eyes.
  9. Cross References
    Amos 5:5
    But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
    Ezekiel 20:39
    As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God : Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.
    Matthew 23:32
    Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
  10. Cross References
    Amos 5:5
    But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
    Ezekiel 20:39
    As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God : Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.
    Matthew 23:32
    Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
  11. Cross References
    Amos 5:5
    But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
    Hosea 4:15
    Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, "As the Lord lives.
    Hosea 9:15
    Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
    Hosea 12:11
    If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing: in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.
  12. Cross References
    Numbers 28:3 - 4
    And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord : two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering.
    Jeremiah 7:21
    Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
  13. Cross References
    Leviticus 7:13
    With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread.
  14. Cross References
    Exodus 35:29
    All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.
    Leviticus 22:18
    Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord.
    Leviticus 22:21
    And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.
    Deuteronomy 12:6
    And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 81:11 - 12
    But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
  16. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:57
    Her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
    Lamentations 2:12
    They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 15:7
    I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.
    Haggai 2:17
    I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:3
    Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
    Joel 2:23
    Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
  19. Cross References
    Exodus 9:26
    Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.
  20. Cross References
    Amos 8:12
    They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
  21. Cross References
    Amos 4:6
    I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  22. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:22
    The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.
    Haggai 2:17
    I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.
  23. Cross References
    Joel 1:4
    What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
  24. Cross References
    Amos 4:6
    I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  25. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:27
    The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egyp...
    Deuteronomy 28:60
    And he will bring upon you again all the diseas...
    Exodus 12:29
    At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstb...
    Psalms 78:50
    He made a path for his anger; he did not spare ...
    Isaiah 10:24
    Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: "O m...
    Isaiah 10:26
    And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a...
  26. Cross References
    2 Kings 13:7
    For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
  27. Cross References
    Joel 2:20
    I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
  28. Cross References
    Amos 4:6
    I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  29. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:19
    And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
  30. Cross References
    Zechariah 3:2
    And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?
    Jude 1:23
    Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
  31. Cross References
    Amos 4:6
    I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  32. Cross References
    Psalms 102:25
    Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
  33. Cross References
    Psalms 139:2
    You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
  34. Cross References
    Amos 5:8
    He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name.
    Amos 8:9
    And on that day," declares the Lord God, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
  35. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:14
    Then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
    Micah 1:3
    For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
  36. Cross References
    Amos 3:13
    Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord God, the God of hosts.
    Amos 5:8
    He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name.
    Amos 9:6
    Who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth - the Lord is his name.
    Jeremiah 10:16
    Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Previous Book Next Book