Amos 8:4

4 Hear now this, ye that oppress the poor in the morning, and drive the needy ones by tyranny from the earth,

Amos 8:4 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy
Like a man that pants after a draught of water when thirsty; and, when he has got it, greedily swallows it down at one gulp; so these rich men swallowed up the poor, their labours, gains, and profits, and persons too; got all into their own hands, and made them bondsmen and slaves to them; see ( Amos 2:7 ) ; these are called upon to hear this dreadful calamity threatened, and to consider what then would become of them and their ill gotten riches; and suggesting, that their oppression of the needy was one cause of this destruction of the land: even to make the poor of the land to fail;
or "cease" ^F1; to die for want of the necessaries of life, being obliged to such hard labour; so unmercifully used, their faces ground, and pinched with necessity; and so sadly paid for their work, that they could not live by it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (twbvl) "ad cessare faciendum", Mercerus; "et facitis cessare", Munster, Drusius.

Amos 8:4 In-Context

2 And he said, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, A fowler's basket. And the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more.

3 And the ceilings of the temple shall howl in that day, saith the Lord God: many a fallen one in every place; I will bring silence upon .

4 Hear now this, ye that oppress the poor in the morning, and drive the needy ones by tyranny from the earth,

5 saying, When will the month pass away, and we shall sell, and the sabbath, and we shall open the treasure, to make the measure small, and to enlarge the weight, and make the balance unfair?

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for shoes; and we will trade in every kind of fruit.