Amos 4
What Happens in This Chapter
Amos speaks God's words to the people of Israel. He calls out the rich women of Samaria who hurt poor people, and he tells the people to keep bringing offerings at Bethel and Gilgal, since that is what they love to do. God then lists hard things he sent them — hunger, no rain, sick plants, disease, war, and ruin — and after each one he says they still did not come back to him. The chapter ends by telling Israel to get ready to meet God, who makes the mountains and the wind.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan on the hill of Samaria. You hurt poor people. You crush people who have nothing. You say to your husbands, "Bring us more to drink."
Bashan was land with rich grass, where cattle grew fat. Calling these women "cows of Bashan" is a hard insult about rich women who live well while others go hungry.
2The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
2The Lord GOD has made a promise by his own holiness. He says, "Days are coming when you will be dragged away with hooks. Your children will be taken away with fishhooks.
3And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.
3You will go out through holes in the broken city wall. Each woman will go straight ahead. You will be thrown out of the city," says the LORD.
4Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
4"Go to Bethel and do wrong. Go to Gilgal and do even more wrong. Bring your gifts to God every morning. Bring a tenth of all you own every three days.
5And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
5Offer bread made with yeast as a thank-you gift. Then say out loud what you gave, so everyone hears. That is what you love to do, people of Israel," says the Lord GOD.
6And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
6"I left you with nothing to eat in all your cities. There was no bread in any of your towns. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
The KJV says "cleanness of teeth." It means teeth with no food on them. It is a picture of being hungry, not of being clean.
7And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
7"I also held back the rain when harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city and no rain on another. One field got rain. The field with no rain dried up.
8So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
8"People stumbled from town to town looking for water. They drank, but it was never enough. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
9I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
9"I struck your crops with dry rot and mold. Your gardens and grapevines grew, and bugs ate them. Locusts ate your fig trees and your olive trees. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
The KJV word "blasting" means a plant disease that dries crops out. "Palmerworm" is a kind of locust, a bug that eats plants.
10I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
10"I sent sickness among you, like the sickness in Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war. Your horses were taken away. The smell of your camp filled your noses. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
11I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
11"I knocked some of you down, the way God knocked down Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire. Still you did not come back to me," says the LORD.
12Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
12"So this is what I will do to you, Israel. And because I will do this to you, get ready to meet your God, Israel.
13For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
13Look at the one who shapes the mountains and makes the wind. He tells people what he is thinking. He turns the morning light into darkness. He walks on the high places of the earth. His name is the LORD, the God of armies."
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