Amos 4
1 You [wealthy women] of Samaria [have grown fat like] [MET] the fat cows of the Bashan [region]. You oppress poor people and you cause needy people to suffer. And you say to your husbands, “Bring us [more wine] to drink!”
Listen to this message, you well-fed cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who order your husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2 But Yahweh [our] God has said this: “Because I am holy, I solemnly promise this: It will [soon] be the time when you all will be taken [to another country]; [your enemies will take you away as though they are] using sharp hooks [DOU] [to grab you].
The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: Watch out! For the time is coming when they will drag you away with hooks, each one of you will be like a fish on a hook.
3 [Your enemies] will drag you out through breaks/holes [in your city walls], and they will throw you outside the city. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it!
You will leave through breaches in the city walls, thrown out in the direction of Mount Hermon.
4 Go to Bethel and Gilgal [towns where many people worship me] and sin more and more [SAR]! [I say that not because I want you to do it], [but because it is what you have always been doing]! Offer sacrifices on the morning [after you arrive], [and bring me] (a tithe/one tenth) of your crops the next day.
Why don't you go to Bethel and sin? Go to Gilgal and add to your sins even more? Offer your sacrifices in the morning, bring your tithes after three days.
5 Bring offerings of bread to thank me, and [other] offerings that are not required/commanded, and boast about [these offerings that you bring], because that is what you like to do, [but you do it to impress others, not to please me]. [That is certainly true, because I], Yahweh, have said it.
Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast, and announce what you're giving as freewill offerings so everyone will know. This is what you love to do! declares the Lord God.
6 I [am the one who] caused there to be no food in any of your cities and towns [DOU], but you rejected me in spite of that.
It was I who made sure you had nothing to eat in all your cities, and a lack of food wherever you lived, but still you wouldn't return to me, says the Lord.
7 When it was still three months before [the time of] harvesting [crops], [at the time when your crops needed rain the most], I prevented rain from falling. [Sometimes] I allowed rain to fall on some towns and prevented it from falling on other towns. Rain fell on some fields, but it did not fall on other fields, with the result that [the soil in] those fields [where it did not rain] dried up.
It was I who kept the rain from falling when there was still three months before harvest. One city would have rain, while another would not. One field would have rain, another would dry up from lack of rain.
8 People would stagger from one town to another town to find water, but they could not even get enough water to drink, but in spite of that, you have not returned to me. [That is certainly true because I], Yahweh, have said it!
People wandered from town to town looking for water, yet were still thirsty. But still you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
9 I caused your grain fields to dry up; I caused your gardens and vineyards to be struck/destroyed by (blight/hot winds) and mildew. [I sent] locusts to eat [the leaves on] your fig trees and olive trees, but in spite of that, you rejected me. [That is certainly true because I], Yahweh, have said it!
I struck your many farms and vineyards with blight and mildew; locusts devoured your fig trees and olive trees. But still you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
10 I caused you to experience (plagues/severe sicknesses) like the plagues [that I sent to the people] of Egypt. I caused [many of] your young men to die in battles. I allowed [your enemies] to capture your horses. [Many of your soldiers were killed, ] and I caused your camps to be filled with the smell/stink of their [decaying] corpses. But in spite of that, you rejected me. [That is certainly true, because] I, Yahweh, have said it!
I sent a plague on you like I did in Egypt. I killed your young men in battle; I took away your horses; I made you smell the stench of dead bodies in your camps. But still you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
11 I got rid of many of you, like I got rid of [the people in] Sodom and Gomorrah. [Those of] you who [did not die] were like [SIM] a burning stick that was snatched from a fire [so that it would not burn completely]. But in spite of that, you rejected me. [That is certainly true, because I], Yahweh, have said it!
Some of you I destroyed as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled out of a fire. But still you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
12 So [now], you [people of] Israel, I am going to punish you. Prepare to stand in front of me, your God, [when I judge you]!
Therefore, this is what I am going to do to you, Israel. Because I am going to do this, Israel, prepare to meet your God!
13 I created the mountains, and [I] created winds. I reveal to humans what I am thinking. I [sometimes] cause the daylight to become dark [like the night]. I [rule over everything]; I [even] walk on the highest mountains on the earth! I am the Commander of the armies of angels!”
Watch! The One who made the mountains, who created the winds, who reveals his thoughts to humankind, who turns the sunlight into darkness, who walks on the high places of the earth—the Lord God of power is his name!
