< Amos 4 >
1 Hear this word, ye heifers of Bashan, that [are] in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
2 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks,
3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every [cow at that which is] before her; and ye shall cast [them] into the palace, saith the LORD.
4 Come to Beth-el and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, [and] your tithes after three years:
5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim [and] publish the free-offerings: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
7 And also I have withheld the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece on which it rained not withered.
8 So two [or] three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured [them]: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the ill savor of your camps to come up to your nostrils: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
11 I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
12 Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 For lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth to man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, [is] his name.