Amos 4

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

Listen to this word, you fat cows that are on the mountain of Samaria, you who make false accusations against the destitute and crush the poor, who say to your nobles, “Bring, and we will drink.”

2 The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

The Lord God has sworn in his holiness: behold, the days that will overcome you and that will impale you on poles, and that will place what remains of you in boiling pots.

3 You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”

And you will go out through the breaches, one over another, and you will be cast out into Harmon, says the Lord.

4 “Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.

Come to Bethel and behave impiously, to Gilgal and increase betrayals. And bring daybreak to your victims, your tithes in three days.

5 Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,”

And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven. And call for voluntary oblations, and announce it. For such is your will, sons of Israel, says the Lord God.

6 “I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,”

Therefore, because of this, I have given you dull teeth in every one of your cities, and a lack of bread in all your places. And you have not been turned back towards me, says the Lord.

7 “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.

Therefore, I have withheld the rains from you, when there were still three months left until the harvest. And I rained on one city, and I did not rain on another city; one part was rained on, and the part on which I did not rain, dried out.

8 People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,”

And two and three cities went to one city, in order to drink water, and they were not satisfied. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

9 “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,”

I struck you with a burning wind and with yellowing; the caterpillar has consumed your many gardens and your vineyards, your olive groves and your fig groves. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues among you like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you did not return to Me,”

I sent death to you by way of Egypt; I struck your youths with the sword, even bringing captivity to your horses. And I made the stench of your camp ascend into your nostrils. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

11 “Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,”

I overturned you, just as God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah, and you became like an ember seized from the fire. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

12 “Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Because of this, I will do these things to you, Israel. But after I have done these things to you, Israel, be prepared to meet your God.

13 For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and announces his speech to man, who makes the morning mist and steps over the heights of the earth: the Lord God of hosts is his name.