Amos 4

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan On the hill of Samaria— Who defraud the poor, Who rob the needy; Who say to your husbands, “Bring, and let’s carouse!”

My Sovereign GOD swears irrevocably: Behold, days are coming upon you When you will be carried off in baskets, And, to the last one, in fish baskets,

And taken out [of the city]— Each one through a breach straight ahead— And flung on the refuse heap —declares GOD.

Come to Bethel and transgress; To Gilgal, and transgress even more: Present your sacrifices the next morning And your tithes on the third day;

And burn a thank offering of leavened bread; And proclaim freewill offerings loudly. For you love that sort of thing, O Israelites —declares the Sovereign GOD.

I, on My part, have given you Cleanness of teeth in all your towns, And lack of food in all your settlements. Yet you did not turn back to Me —declares GOD.

I therefore withheld the rain from you Three months before harvesttime: I would make it rain on one town And not on another; One field would be rained upon While another on which it did not rain Would wither.

So two or three towns would wander To a single town to drink water, But their thirst would not be slaked. Yet you did not turn back to Me —declares GOD.

I scourged you with blight and mildew; Repeatedly your gardens and vineyards, Your fig trees and olive trees Were devoured by locusts. Yet you did not turn back to Me —declares GOD.

I sent against you pestilence In the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword, Together with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your armies Rise in your very nostrils. Yet you did not turn back to Me —declares GOD.

I have wrought destruction among you As when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; You have become like a brand plucked from burning. Yet you have not turned back to Me —declares GOD.

Assuredly, Because I am doing that to you, Even so will I act toward you, O Israel— Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Behold the One who formed the mountains, And created the wind, And whose wishes have been made known to mortals, Who turns blackness into daybreak, And treads upon the high places of the earth, Whose name is GOD—the God of Hosts.