Amos 4

Israel's Guilt and Punishment

1 Hear this word, you a cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the b poor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to 1 your husbands, "Bring wine, let us c drink!"
2 d The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:
"Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away e with fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks.
3 f You will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will 2 be cast into Harmon,"
Says the LORD.

4 "Come g to Bethel and transgress,
At h Gilgal multiply transgression;
i Bring your sacrifices every morning,
j Your tithes every three 3 days. 4
5 k Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce l the freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!"
Says the Lord GOD.

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

6 "Also I gave you 5 cleanness of teeth in all your cities.
And lack of bread in all your places;
m Yet you have not returned to Me,"
Says the LORD.

7 "I also withheld rain from you,
When there were still three months to the harvest.
I made it rain on one city,
I withheld rain from another city.
One part was rained upon,
And where it did not rain the part withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,
But they were not satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,"
Says the LORD.

9 "I n blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
o The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,"
Says the LORD.

10 "I sent among you a plague p after the manner of Egypt;
Your young men I killed with a sword,
Along with your captive horses;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,"
Says the LORD.

11 "I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew q Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to Me,"
Says the LORD.

12 "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
r Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"

13 For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the 6 wind,
s Who declares to man what 7 his 7 thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
t Who treads the high places of the earth -
u The LORD God of hosts is His name.

  1. Cross References
    Psalms 22:12
    Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
    Ezekiel 39:18
    You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan.
  2. Cross References
    Amos 2:6
    Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals.
  3. Cross References
    Proverbs 23:20
    Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 89:35
    Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:
  5. Cross References
    Jeremiah 16:16
    Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
    Ezekiel 29:4
    But I will put hooks in your jaws, And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales.
    Habakkuk 1:15
    They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
  6. Cross References
    Ezekiel 12:5
    Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it.
  7. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:39
    As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols - and hereafter - if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.
    Amos 3:14
    That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground.
  8. Cross References
    Hosea 4:15
    Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, 'As the LORD lives' -
  9. Cross References
    Numbers 28:3
    And you shall say to them, 'This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering.
    Amos 5:21
    I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
    Amos 5:22
    Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 14:28
    At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.
  11. Cross References
    Leviticus 7:13
    Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.
  12. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:18
    Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: 'Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the LORD as a burnt offering -
    Deuteronomy 12:6
    There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
  13. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 28:22
    Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. This is that King Ahaz.
    Isaiah 26:11
    LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed For their envy of people; Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
    Jeremiah 5:3
    O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.
    Haggai 2:17
    I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,' says the LORD.
  14. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:22
    The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
    Haggai 2:17
    I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,' says the LORD.
  15. Cross References
    Joel 1:4
    What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
    Joel 1:7
    He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white.
    Amos 7:1
    Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king's mowings.
    Amos 7:2
    And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said: "O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, For he is small!
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 9:3
    Behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your ca...
    Exodus 9:6
    So the LORD did this thing on the next day, and...
    Leviticus 26:25
    And I will bring a sword against you that will ...
    Deuteronomy 28:27
    The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egyp...
    Deuteronomy 28:60
    Moreover He will bring back on you all the dise...
    Psalms 78:50
    He made a path for His anger; He did not spare ...
  17. Cross References
    Genesis 19:24
    Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodo...
    Genesis 19:25
    So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, al...
    Deuteronomy 29:23
    'The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning...
    Isaiah 13:19
    And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty ...
    Jeremiah 49:18
    As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah And t...
    Lamentations 4:6
    The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter ...
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:22
    Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
  19. Cross References
    Psalms 139:2
    You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
    Daniel 2:28
    But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:
  20. Cross References
    Micah 1:3
    For behold, the LORD is coming out of His place; He will come down And tread on the high places of the earth.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 47:4
    As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.
    Jeremiah 10:16
    The Portion of Jacob is not like them, For He is the Maker of all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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