Amos
Chapter 4
1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan on Samaria’s mountain, who hurt the poor, who crush the needy, and who tell their bosses, “Bring us something to drink.”
2 God has promised by his own purity, look, the time will come when you will be taken away with hooks, and your descendants with fishhooks.
3 You will leave through the gaps, each cow heading straight ahead; and you will throw them into the palace, says God.
4 Go to Bethel and sin; keep on sinning at Gilgal. Bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three years.
5 Give thanks with bread that has yeast, tell others, and share freely: this pleases you, people of Israel, says God.
6 I also gave you clean teeth in your cities and lack of bread everywhere, but still you haven’t turned back to me, says God.
7 I also kept rain from you when it was three months before harvest. I made it rain on one city but not another. One place got rain and didn’t dry up, while the place with no rain withered.
8 Two or three cities went to one city to get water to drink, but it wasn’t enough. Still, you haven’t turned back to me, says God.
9 I have struck you with blight and decay; when your gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees grew, the palmerworm ate them, but still you have not turned back to me, says God.
10 I sent sickness to you like in Egypt: I killed your young men with the sword, took your horses, and made your camps smell bad: still, you did not turn back to me, says God.
11 I destroyed some of you, just like God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were saved from the fire, but still you haven’t come back to me, says God.
12 So I will act toward you, Israel, and since I will do this, get ready to face your God, Israel.
13 Look, the one who shapes the mountains, makes the wind, and tells people their thoughts, who turns dawn into darkness and walks on the high parts of the land, God, the commander of heavenly armies, is his name.