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!”

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, Who [are] in the mountain of Samaria, Who are oppressing the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords: 'Bring in, and we do drink.'

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].

Sworn hath the Lord Jehovah by His holiness, That lo, days are coming upon you, And he hath taken you away with hooks, And your posterity with fish-hooks.

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!

And [by] breaches ye go forth, A woman [at that] over-against her, And ye have cast down the high place, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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.

Enter ye Beth-El, and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression, And bring in every morning your sacrifices, Every third year your tithes.

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.

And perfume with leaven a thank-offering, And proclaim willing gifts, sound ye! For so ye have loved, O sons of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

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.

And I also — I have given to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places, And ye have not turned back unto Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.

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.

And I also — I have withheld from you the rain. While yet three months to harvest, And I have sent rain on one city, And on another city I do not send rain, One portion is rained on, And the portion on which it raineth not withereth.

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!

And wandered have two or three cities, Unto the same city to drink water, And they are not satisfied, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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 have smitten you with blasting and with mildew, The abundance of your gardens and of your vineyards, And of your figs, and of your olives, Eat doth the palmer-worm, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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 have sent among you pestilence by the way of Egypt, I have slain by sword your choice ones, With your captive horses, And I cause the stink of your camps to come up — even into your nostrils, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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!

I have overturned among you, Like the overturn by God of Sodom and Gomorrah, And ye are as a brand delivered from a burning, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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, thus I do to thee, O Israel, at last, Because this I do to thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

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!”

For, lo, the former of mountains, and creator of wind, And the declarer to man what [is] His thought, He is making dawn obscurity, And is treading on high places of earth, Jehovah, God of Hosts, [is] His name!