< Amos 4 >
1 Hear this word, O ye cows of Bashan, that are on the mount of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink.
2 Sworn hath the Lord Eternal by his holiness, that, lo, days are coming over you, when men will carry you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
3 And through breaches in the wall shall ye go out, every one through that before her: and ye shall cast off your proud greatness, saith the Lord.
4 Go then to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, [and] multiply transgression; and bring in the morning your sacrifices, after three days your tithes:
5 And burn of leaven a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and proclaim and publish freewill-offerings; for so do you love [to do], O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Eternal.
6 But, I also had indeed given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
7 And I also had indeed withholden from you the rain, when it was yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I caused it not to rain; one piece of land was rained upon, and another piece whereupon it rained not became dried up;
8 And two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
9 I had smitten you with blasting and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees did the caterpillar devour: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
10 I had sent out against you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword, together with your captive horses; and I had caused the stench of your camps to ascend even into your nostrils; and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
11 I had produced an overthrow among you, like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye became like a fire-brand snatched out of the burning: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because then I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning-dawn [and] darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, — The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.