The Women of Samaria
The Lord said:
4 You women of Samaria
are fat cows![a]
You mistreat and abuse
the poor and needy,
then you say to your husbands,
“Bring us more drinks!”
2 I, the Lord God, have sworn
by my own name
that your time is coming.
Not one of you will be left—
you will be taken away
by sharp hooks.[b]
3 You will be dragged through holes
in your city walls,
and you will be thrown
toward Harmon.[c]
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Israel Refuses To Obey
The Lord said:
4 Come to Bethel and Gilgal.[d]
Sin all you want!
Offer sacrifices the next morning
and bring a tenth of your crops
on the third day.[e]
5 Bring offerings to show me
how thankful you are.
Gladly bring more offerings
than I have demanded.
You really love to do this.
I, the Lord God, have spoken!
How the Lord Warned Israel
6 (A) I, the Lord, took away the food
from every town and village,
but still you rejected me.
7 Three months before harvest,
I kept back the rain.
Sometimes I would let it fall
on one town or field
but not on another,
and pastures dried up.
8 People from two or three towns
would go to a town
that still had water,
but it wasn't enough.
Even then you rejected me.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
9 I dried up your grain fields;
your gardens and vineyards
turned brown.
Locusts[f] ate your fig trees
and olive orchards,
but even then you rejected me.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
10 I did terrible things to you,
just as I did to Egypt—
I killed your young men in war;
I let your horses be stolen,
and I made your camp stink
with dead bodies.
Even then you rejected me.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
11 (B) I destroyed many of you,
just as I did the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were a burning stick
I rescued from the fire.
But even then you rejected me.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
12 Now, Israel, I myself
will deal with you.
Get ready to face your God!
13 I created the mountains
and the wind.
I let humans know
what I am thinking.[g]
I bring darkness at dawn
and step over hills.
I am the Lord God All-Powerful!
Footnotes
- 4.1 fat cows: The Hebrew text has “cows of Bashan,” a fertile plain famous for its rich pastures and well-fed cattle.
- 4.2 taken … hooks: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 4.3 Harmon: Hebrew; some manuscripts of one ancient translation “Mount Hermon,” a mountain in the north of Palestine, on the way to Assyria.
- 4.4 Bethel and Gilgal: These were two of the most important centers of worship in northern Israel. Amos mentions these together again in 5.5.
- 4.4 Offer … day: Or “Offer sacrifices each morning and bring a tenth of your crops every three days.” In verses 4,5 God is condemning the people for meaningless acts of worship.
- 4.9 Locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
- 4.13 I let … thinking: Or “No one's secret thoughts are hidden from me.”
Cross references
- 4.6 : Ws 12.2,10.
- 4.11 : Gn 19.24.