Bible Gateway passage: Amos 4 - New King James Version (2025)

God’s Punishments Have Not Reformed Israel

4Hear this word, you ^(A)cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the ^(B)poor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to ^[a]your husbands, “Bring wine, let us ^(C)drink!”
^2(D)The Lord God has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away ^(E)with fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks.
^3(F)You will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will ^[b]be cast into Harmon,”
Says the Lord.

⁴“Come^(G) to Bethel and transgress,
At ^(H)Gilgal multiply transgression;
^(I)Bring your sacrifices every morning,
^(J)Your tithes every three ^[c]days.
^5(K)Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce ^(L)the freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!”
Says the Lord God.

Israel Did Not Accept Correction

⁶“Also I gave you ^[d]cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your places;
^(M)Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

⁷“I also withheld rain from you,
When there were still three months to the harvest.
I made it rain on one city,
I withheld rain from another city.
One part was rained upon,
And where it did not rain the part withered.
⁸So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,
But they were not satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

⁹“I^(N) blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
^(O)The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

¹⁰“I sent among you a plague ^(P)after the manner of Egypt;
Your young men I killed with a sword,
Along with your captive horses;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

¹¹“I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew ^(Q)Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

¹²“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
^(R)Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

¹³For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the ^[e]wind,
^(S)Who declares to man what ^[f]his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
^(T)Who treads the high places of the earth—
^(U)The Lord God of hosts is His name.