Amos 4:1-11

Israel Has Not Returned to God

1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”

2 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.^[a]

3 You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,^[b] ” declares the LORD.

4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.^[c]

5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings— boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign LORD.

6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

7 “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up.

8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

10 “I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

11 “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

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Amos 4:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 4

In this chapter, the great ones, or the people of Israel, are threatened with calamities for their oppression of the poor, Am 4:1-3; and in an ironic manner are reproved for their idolatry, Am 4:4,5; then follows an enumeration of several judgments that had been upon them, yet had had no effect on them, to bring them to repentance, nor even mercies, Am 4:6-11; and notwithstanding all this, in a wonderful gracious manner, they are called upon to prepare to meet their God, who is described by his power, greatness, and goodness, Am 4:12,13.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 37

1. S Psalms 22:12; Ezekiel 39:18
2. S Amos 3:9
3. S Isaiah 58:6; S Ezekiel 18:12
4. S Deuteronomy 24:14
5. Jeremiah 44:19
6. S Amos 2:8; Amos 5:11; Amos 8:6
7. Jeremiah 31:31
8. Amos 6:8
9. S 2 Kings 19:28; S 2 Chronicles 33:11; S Isaiah 19:8
10. S Ezekiel 12:5
11. S Joshua 7:2
12. S Hosea 4:15
13. S Numbers 28:3
14. Deuteronomy 14:28
15. S Ezekiel 20:39; Amos 5:21-22
16. S Leviticus 7:13
17. S Leviticus 22:18-21
18. S Isaiah 3:1; S Isaiah 9:13; S Jeremiah 5:3; Haggai 2:17
19. S Jeremiah 3:3; Zechariah 14:17
20. Exodus 9:4,26; Deuteronomy 11:17; S 2 Chronicles 7:13; S Isaiah 5:6
21. S Ezekiel 4:16-17
22. Haggai 1:6
23. S Jeremiah 3:7
24. S Job 36:31; S Jeremiah 14:4
25. S Deuteronomy 28:22
26. S Exodus 10:13; S Joel 2:25
27. Joel 1:7
28. S Isaiah 9:13; S Jeremiah 3:10; Haggai 2:17
29. S Exodus 9:3; Deuteronomy 28:27
30. Exodus 11:5
31. S Isaiah 9:17
32. S Isaiah 34:3
33. S Deuteronomy 28:21
34. S Isaiah 9:13
35. S Genesis 19:24; S Jeremiah 23:14
36. S Isaiah 7:4; Jude 1:23
37. S Job 36:13

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or "away in baskets," / "the last of you in fish baskets"
[b]. Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew (see Septuagint) "out, you mountain of oppression"
[c]. Or "days"