Amos 4:2

Amos 4:2

1 Hear this word, you ^acows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the ^bpoor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to¹ your husbands, “Bring wine, let us ^cdrink!”

2 ^aThe Lord God has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away ^bwith fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks.

3 ^aYou will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will¹ be cast into Harmon,”
Says the Lord.

4 “Come^a to Bethel and transgress,
At ^bGilgal multiply transgression;
^cBring your sacrifices every morning,
^dYour tithes every three¹ days.

5 ^aOffer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce ^bthe freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!”
Says the Lord God.

Israel Did Not Accept Correction

6 “Also I gave you¹ cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your places;
^aYet 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.

8 So 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^a blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
^bThe locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.

10 “I sent among you a plague ^aafter 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 ^aSodom 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,
^aPrepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13 For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the¹ wind,
^aWho declares to man what¹ his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
^bWho treads the high places of the earth—
^cThe Lord God of hosts is His name.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness - They had sinned to profane His "Holy Name" (see the note at Amos 2:7). God swears by that holiness which they had profaned in themselves on whom it was called, and which they had caused to be profaned by others. He pledges His own holiness, that He will avenge their unholiness. : "In swearing "by His holiness," God sware by Himself. For He is the supreme uncreated justice and Holiness. This justice each, in his degree, should imitate and maintain on earth, and these had sacrilegiously violated and overthrown."

Days shall come (literally, are among) upon you - God' s Day and eternity are ever coming. He reminds them of their continual approach. He says not only that they will certainly come, but they are ever coming. They are holding on their steady course. Each day which passes, they advance a day closer upon the sinner. People put out of their minds what "will come;" they "put far the evil day." Therefore, God so often in His notices of woe to come, (I Samuel 2:31; Isaiah 39:6; Jeremiah 7:32; Jeremiah 9:25; Jeremiah 17:14; Jeremiah 19:6; Jeremiah 23:5, Jeremiah 23:7; Jeremiah 30:3; Jeremiah 31:27-31, Jeremiah 31:38; Jeremiah 33:14; Jeremiah 48:12; Jeremiah 49:2; Jeremiah 51:47, Jeremiah 51:52. (Ges.); Amos 8:11), brings to mind, that those "days are" ever "coming" ; they are not a thing which shall be only; in God' s purpose, they already "are;" and with one uniform steady noiseless tread "are coming upon" the sinner. Those "days shall come upon you," heavily charged with the displeasure of God, crushing you, as ye have crushed the poor. They come doubtless, too, unexpectedly upon them, as our Lords says, "and so that day come upon you unwares."

He (that is one) will take you away - In the midst of their security, they should on a sudden be taken away violently from the abode of their luxury, as the fish, when hooked, is lifted out of the water. The image pictures (see Habakkuk 1:15; Ezekiel 29:4-5,) their utter helplessness, the contempt in which they would be had, the ease with which they would be lifted out of the flood of pleasures in which they had immersed themselves. People can be reckless, at last, about themselves, so that their posterity escape, and they themselves survive in their offspring. Amos foretells, then, that these also should be swept away.

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