Amos 4

1 Give ear to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the hill of Samaria, by whom the poor are kept down, and those in need are crushed; who say to their lords, Get out the wine and give us drink.

Hear you this word, you heifers of the land of Basan that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, and trample on the needy, which say to their masters, Give us that we may drink.

2 The Lord God has taken an oath by his holy name, that the days are coming when they will take you away with hooks, and the rest of you with fish-hooks.

The Lord swears by his holiness, that, behold, the days come upon you, when they shall take you with weapons, and fiery destroyers shall cast those with you into boiling caldrons.

3 And you will go out through the broken places, every one going straight before her, and you will be sent into Harmon, says the Lord.

And you shall be brought forth naked in the presence of each other; and you shall be cast forth on the mountain Romman, says the Lord.

4 Come to Beth-el and do evil; to Gilgal, increasing the number of your sins; come with your offerings every morning and your tenths every three days:

You went into Bethel, and sinned, and you multiplied sin at Galgala; and you brought your meat-offerings in the morning, [and] your tithes every third day.

5 Let that which is leavened be burned as a praise-offering, let the news of your free offerings be given out publicly; for this is pleasing to you, O children of Israel, says the Lord.

And they read the law without, and called for public professions: proclaim aloud that the children of Israel have loved these things, says the Lord.

6 But in all your towns I have kept food from your teeth, and in all your places there has been need of bread: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

And I will give you dullness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places: yet you returned not to me, says the Lord.

7 And I have kept back the rain from you, when it was still three months before the grain-cutting: I sent rain on one town and kept it back from another: one part was rained on, and the part where there was no rain became a waste.

Also I withheld from you the rain three months before the harvest: and I will rain upon one city, and on another city I will not rain: one part shall be rained upon, and the part on which I shall not rain shall be dried up.

8 So two or three towns went wandering to one town looking for water, and did not get enough: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

And [the inhabitants of] two or three cities shall be gathered to one city to drink water, and they shall not be satisfied: yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord.

9 I have sent destruction on your fields by burning and disease: the increase of your gardens and your vine-gardens, your fig-trees and your olive-trees, has been food for worms: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

I struck you with parching, and with blight: you multiplied your gardens, your vineyards, and your fig-grounds, and the cankerworm devoured your olive yards: yet not [even] thus did you return to me, says the Lord.

10 I have sent disease among you, as it was in Egypt: I have put your young men to the sword, and have taken away your horses; I have made the evil smell from your tents come up to your noses: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

I sent pestilence among you by the way of Egypt, and killed your young men with the sword, together with your horses that were taken captive; and in my wrath against you I set fire to your camps: yet not even thus did you return to me, says the Lord.

11 And I have sent destruction among you, as when God sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodoma and Gomorrha, and you became as a brand plucked out of the fire: yet not even thus did you return to me, says the Lord.

12 So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.

Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: nay because I will do thus to you, prepare to call on your God, O Israel.

13 For see, he who gave form to the mountains and made the wind, giving knowledge of his purpose to man, who makes the morning dark, and is walking on the high places of the earth: the Lord, the God of armies, is his name.

For, behold, I am he that strengthens the thunder, and creates the wind, and proclaims to men his Christ, forming the morning and the darkness, and mounting on the high places of the earth, The Lord God Almighty is his name.