UNROLL
Late afternoon on the basalt uplands of Bashan: sleek, heavy cattle graze in deep green grass among black rock outcrops under a calm, empty sky.

Hear this word

Amos 4

God had been trying to get their attention. What would it take to get yours?

13 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–2The nations judgedEight oracles, closing on Israel
  2. 3–5:17Hear this wordThree messages to SamariaChapter 4
  3. 5:18–6Woe to those at easeThe Day of the LORD, and Zion’s comfort
  4. 7–9:10Five visionsLocusts, fire, plumb line, fruit, the altar
  5. 9:11–15The fallen tent raisedRuins rebuilt, vineyards planted

Punishment Brings No Repentance

Amos

Hear this word,

you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,

you women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,

who say to your husbands,

“Bring us more to drink.”

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God
God

The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:

“Behold, the days are coming

when you will be taken away with hooks,

and your posterity with fishhooks.

You will go out through broken walls,

each one straight ahead of her,

and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”

declares the LORD.

God
Mid-morning on Bethel's stony hilltop, seen from below at a distance: a broad raised platform of squared stones with a big stone altar sending up a thin line of smoke, and at the back on a pedestal a small golden young bull catching the sun.

“Go to Bethel and transgress;

rebel even more at Gilgal!

Bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days.

God

Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings.

For that is what you children of Israel love to do,”

declares the Lord GOD.

God

“I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

God
God

“I also withheld the rain from you

when the harvest was three months away.

I sent rain on one city

but withheld it from another.

One field received rain;

another without rain withered.

People staggered from city to city

for water to drink,

but they were not satisfied;

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

God
A terraced vineyard in late summer stripped by locusts: bare canes and a few chewed leaves, brown locusts thick on the stones and vines, shriveled olives fallen beneath an olive tree.

“I struck you with blight and mildew

in your growing gardens and vineyards;

the locust devoured your fig and olive trees,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

God

“I sent plagues among you

like those of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with your captured horses.

I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

God
Close on a single charred stick lying on a hearthstone, a thin line of smoke still rising from one end, beside the gray ash of a burned-out fire.

“Some of you I overthrew

as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

God

“Therefore, that is what I will do

to you, O Israel,

and since I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Amos 4:12

Amos
Amos

For behold, He who forms the mountains,

who creates the wind

and reveals His thoughts to man,

who turns the dawn to darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth—

the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

Question

Quick question

Famine, drought, blight, plague, overthrow. After each one the same line sounds.

How many times does ‘yet you did not return to Me’ sound in 4:6–11?

You’ve experienced

Amos 4

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A verse to carry with you

Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Amos 4:12

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