Amos 4:6

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

6 "I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and ¹lack of bread in all your places, ²yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

Amos 4:6 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 4:6

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your
cities
Meaning a famine, having no food to foul them with, or to stick in them. This was not the famine in Samaria, ( 2 Kings 6:25 ) ; for that was only in that city, and for a short time, while besieged; whereas this was in all the cities in Israel; rather therefore it designs the famine predicted by Elisha, which should be upon the land for seven years, ( 2 Kings 8:1 ) ; and want of bread in all your places:
this is the same with the former clause, and explains it, and still makes the famine more general, not only in their cities, but in all their places of abode, their towns and villages: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord;
this judgment had no influence upon them, to bring them to a sense of their evils, particularly their idolatry, and to repentance them, and to reclaim them from them, and return them to the Lord, and to his worship, as the Targum paraphrases it.

Amos 4:6 In-Context

4 "Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days;

5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!" declares the Lord GOD.

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.

7 "I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; 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 would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

Cross References

• 1. [Deuteronomy 28:57; Lamentations 2:12]
• 2. Jeremiah 15:7; Haggai 2:17