Amos 4

Chapter context

What is happening in Amos 4?

justicefalse worshipjudgmentpoverty

Amos 4 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as oracles against Israel. Amos is a relentless prophetic book of justice, judgment, false worship, and the remnant hope that survives divine shaking. Read this chapter with the wider themes of justice, false worship, and judgment in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. ² The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. ³ And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. ⁴ Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: ⁵ And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. ⁶ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. ⁷ And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. ⁸ So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. ⁹ I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. ¹⁰ I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. ¹¹ I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. ¹² Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. ¹³ For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

Study helps

Glossary

Bashan Place v. 1: Biblical region. Modern identification: Saham al Jawlan.
Samaria Place v. 1: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Samaria.
Harmon Place v. 3: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Hermon.
Bethel Place v. 4: House of God. (1. ) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz ( Gen. 28:19 ). Modern identification: Beitin.
Gilgal Place v. 4: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet el Mefjir.
City People v. 7-8: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Egypt Place v. 10: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Gomorrah Place v. 11: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: south of the Lisan.
Sodom Place v. 11: Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim ( Gen. 13:10 ; 14:1-16 ). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut. 23:17 ). Modern identification: south of the Lisan.