Amos 4:6

6 "And I in turn gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

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 in the morning and your tithes on the {third day}.

5 And bring a thank offering of unleavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, pronounce them, for so you love [to do], O {people} of Israel," [is] the declaration of my Lord Yahweh.

6 "And I in turn gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

7 "And I also withheld the rain from you when [there were] still three months to the harvest. And I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One tract of land will be rained on, and [the] tract of land {on which it does not rain} will dry up.

8 So two [or] three cities wandered to one city to drink water and they were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

Footnotes

• [a]. Emphatic use of personal pronoun