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.”
Hear ye this word, ye heifers of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, —who say to their lords, Bring in, and let us 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.
Sworn hath My Lord, Yahweh, by his own holiness, That lo! days, are coming upon you, —when he will take you away with hooks, and your followers with fishhooks;
3 You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”
And, through fissures, shall ye go out, every woman, straight before her, —and ye shall be thrust forth towards the castle, Declareth Yahweh.
4 “Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
Enter ye Bethel, and transgress, At Gilgal, cause transgression, to abound, —Yea, carry in, every morning, your sacrifices, every three days, your tithes;
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,”
Yea, burn thou incense, of that which is leavened, as a thank-offering, and proclaim ye freewill-offerings, let them be known, —for, so, ye love [to have it], ye sons of Israel, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh.
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,”
Moreover also, I, have given you cleanness of teeth throughout all your cities, and want of bread throughout all your dwelling-places, —Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
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.
Moreover also, I, have withholden from you the abundant rain, when yet there were only three mouths to the harvest, Or I might rain upon one city, and, on another city, might not rain, —One portion, would be rained upon, and, the portion whereupon it should not rain, would be dried up;
8 People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,”
Then would two or three cities totter to one city to drink water, without being satisfied, —Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
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 have smitten you with blight and with mildew, When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees have increased, the creeping locust would devour them, —Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
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 have sent among you pestilence, in the manner of Egypt, I have slain, with the sword, your young men, and therewith have been taken captive your horses, And I have caused to ascend—the stench of your camps, even into your own nostrils, Yet ye have not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
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 have made an overthrew among you, like the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye have become like a brand snatched out of the burning, —Yet hate ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.
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!
Therefore, thus, will I do unto thee, O Israel, —Because this thing I will do unto thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
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 lo! He that fashioned the mountains, and created the wind, and who telleth the son of earth what is his thought, who turneth dawn into darkness, and marcheth upon the high places of the earth, Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name!
