Amos 4

Israel's Guilt and Punishment

¹ Hear this word, you cows of Bashan

who are on Mount Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
who say to their husbands, "Bring something to drink!"
² The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
The time is surely coming upon you,
when they shall take you away with hooks,
even the last of you with fishhooks.
³ Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,
each one straight ahead;
and you shall be flung out into Harmon, ₁
+qsays the Lord.

⁴ Come to Bethel--and transgress;
to Gilgal--and multiply transgression;
bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;
⁵ bring a thank offering of leavened bread,
and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;
for so you love to do, O people of Israel!
+qsays the Lord God.

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

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,
+qsays the Lord.

⁷ And I also withheld the rain from you
when there were still three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city,
and send no rain on another city;
one field would be rained upon,
and the field on which it did not rain withered;
⁸ so two or three towns wandered to one town
to drink water, and were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,
+qsays the Lord.

⁹ I struck you with blight and mildew;
I laid waste ₂ your gardens and your vineyards;
the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you did not return to me,
+qsays the Lord.

¹⁰ I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword;
I carried away your horses; ₃
and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,
+qsays the Lord.

¹¹ I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;
yet you did not return to me,
+qsays 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 lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,
reveals his thoughts to mortals,
makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth--
the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!