Amos 4

1 Listen to this message, you well-fed cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who order your husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

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 sworn by his holiness: Watch out! For the time is coming when they will drag you away with hooks, each one of you will be like a fish on a hook.

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 cauldrons.

3 You will leave through breaches in the city walls, thrown out in the direction of Mount Hermon.

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 Why don't you go to Bethel and sin? Go to Gilgal and add to your sins even more? Offer your sacrifices in the morning, bring your tithes after 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 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast, and announce what you're giving as freewill offerings so everyone will know. This is what you love to do! declares the Lord God.

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 It was I who made sure you had nothing to eat in all your cities, and a lack of food wherever you lived, but still you wouldn't return 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 It was I who kept the rain from falling when there was still three months before harvest. One city would have rain, while another would not. One field would have rain, another would dry up from lack of rain.

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 People wandered from town to town looking for water, yet were still thirsty. But still you did not return to me, declares 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 struck your many farms and vineyards with blight and mildew; locusts devoured your fig trees and olive trees. But still you did not return to me, declares 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 sent a plague on you like I did in Egypt. I killed your young men in battle; I took away your horses; I made you smell the stench of dead bodies in your camps. But still you did not return to me, declares the Lord.

I sent pestilence amongst 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 Some of you I destroyed as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled out of a fire. But still you did not return to me, declares 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 Therefore, this is what I am going to do to you, Israel. Because I am going to do this, Israel, prepare to meet your God!

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 Watch! The One who made the mountains, who created the winds, who reveals his thoughts to humankind, who turns the sunlight into darkness, who walks on the high places of the earth—the Lord God of power 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.