Amos 4:1-13 NIV
Israel Has Not Returned to God
1Hear
this Word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you
women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say
to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
2The
Sovereign Lord has sworn by His Holiness:
“The
time will surely come
when
you will be taken away with hooks,
3You
will each go straight out
through
breaches in the wall,
declares the Lord.
4“Go to
Bethel and sin;
go to
Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring
your sacrifices every morning,
5Burn
leavened bread as a thank offering
and
brag about your freewill offerings—
boast
about them, you Israelites,
for
this is what you love to do,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.
6“I gave
you empty stomachs in every city
and
lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares the Lord.
7“I also
withheld rain from you
when
the harvest was still three months away.
I sent
rain on one town,
but
withheld it from another.
One
field had rain;
another
had none and dried up.
8People
staggered from town to town for water
but did
not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares the Lord.
9“Many
times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
destroying
them with blight and mildew.
Locusts
devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares the Lord.
10“I sent
plagues among you
as I
did to Egypt.
I
killed your young men with the sword,
along
with your captured horses.
I
filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares the Lord.
11“I
overthrew some of you
as I
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You
were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares the Lord.
12“Therefore
this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and
because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.”
13He Who
forms the mountains,
Who
creates the wind,
and Who
reveals His thoughts to mankind,
Who
turns dawn to darkness,
and
treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord God Almighty is His Name.
In this chapter, the
great ones, or the people of Israel, are threatened with calamities for their
oppression of the poor, Amos 4:1;
and in an ironic manner are reproved for their idolatry, Amos 4:4.
Then follows an
enumeration of several judgments that had been upon them, yet had had no effect
on them, to bring them to repentance, nor even mercies, Amos 4:6; and notwithstanding all this, in
a wonderful gracious manner, they are called upon to prepare to meet their God,
Who is described by His Power, Greatness, and Goodness, Amos 4:12.
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