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 this word, you cows of Bashan, Who [are] on the mountain of Samaria, Who are oppressing the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords: “Bring in, and we 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.

Lord YHWH has sworn by His holiness, “Behold, days are coming on you, And He has taken you away with hooks, And your posterity with fish-hooks.

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

And [by] breaches you go forth, A woman before her, And you have cast down the high place,” A declaration of YHWH.

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.

“Enter Beth-El, and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression, And bring in your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every third year.

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 burn a thank-offering with leaven as incense, And proclaim willing gifts, sound! For so you have loved, O sons of Israel,” A declaration of Lord YHWH.

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 also—I have given to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places, And you have not turned back to Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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.

“And I also—I have withheld from you the rain, While yet three months to harvest, And I have sent rain on one city, And on another city I do not send rain, One portion is rained on, And the portion on which it does not rain withers.

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 two or three cities have wandered, To the same city to drink water, And they are not satisfied, And you have not turned back to Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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 have struck you with blasting and with mildew, The abundance of your gardens and of your vineyards, And of your figs, and of your olives, The palmer-worm eats, And you have not turned back to Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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 have sent among you pestilence by the way of Egypt, I have slain your choice ones by sword, With your captive horses, And I cause the stink of your camps to come up—Even into your nostrils, And you have not turned back to Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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 have overturned among you, Like the overturn by God of Sodom and Gomorrah, And you are as a brand delivered from a burning, And you have not turned back to Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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 I do to you, O Israel, at last, Because this I do to you, Prepare to meet 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, the Former of mountains, and Creator of wind, And the Declarer to man what [is] His thought, He is making dawn obscurity, And is treading on high places of earth, YHWH, God of Hosts, [is] His Name!