Punishment Brings No Repentance
1Hear 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.”
- AMOS 4:1[NOTE]COWS OF BASHAN. Bashan was famous for fat cattle, Psalm 22:12. Amos says it to the rich women of Samaria, whose drinks were paid for by crushing the poor.
2The Lord Yahweh has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, the days are coming
when you will be taken away with hooks,
and your posterity with fishhooks.
3You will go out through broken walls,
each one straight ahead of her,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”
declares Yahweh.
4“Go to Bethel and transgress;
rebel even more at Gilgal!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days.
- AMOS 4:4[DEMONIC]God mocks Israel's busy worship at Bethel and Gilgal
- AMOS 4:4[NOTE]GO TO BETHEL AND SIN. Sarcasm. Bethel and Gilgal were busy places of worship, and God calls it rebellion.
5Offer 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 Yahweh.
6“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 Yahweh.
- AMOS 4:6[NOTE]YET YOU DID NOT RETURN. Five times God says it. Every hard time was a call to come back.
7“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.
8People staggered from city to city
for water to drink,
but they were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares Yahweh.
9“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 Yahweh.
10“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 Yahweh.
11“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 Yahweh.
12“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[NOTABLE]A warning before judgment, and one of the most preached lines in the prophets: be ready for the day you meet God.
- AMOS 4:12[NOTE]BE READY. Here it is a warning before judgment. Today it is often preached as a call to get ready for the day you meet God.
13For 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—
Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
- AMOS 4:13[NOTE]A HYMN. Amos has three short hymns to the Creator, 4:13, 5:8 to 9 and 9:5 to 6. They speak of God as He, so they are black, even where the quote marks keep them inside God's speech.