About Amos

Amos, a shepherd called to prophesy, denounced social injustice and religious hypocrisy in prosperous Israel.

Author: AmosWritten: c. 760-750 BCReading time: ~2 minVerses: 13

JusticeSocial RighteousnessJudgmentPrivilege and ResponsibilityDay of the LordRestoration

Places in This Chapter

Bashan(Region)Bethel 1(Settlement)Egypt(Region)Gilgal 1(Settlement)Gomorrah(Settlement)Harmon(Mountain)Samaria 1(Settlement)Sodom(Settlement)

King James Version

Amos 4

13 verses with commentary

Israel's Failure to Return to God

1

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

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KJV Study Commentary

Amos addresses elite women: "Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink." "Kine of Bashan" compares wealthy women to well-fed cattle from Bashan's fertile region—an insult highlighting their pampered, self-indulgent lifestyle. These women "oppress the poor" and "crush the...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(1) **Bashan.**—This contained the rich pasture-lands east of the Jordan, between Hermon and the mountains of Gilead, where cattle flourished. The “strong bulls of Bashan” (Psalm 22:12) were descriptive of the malignant enemies of the ideal sufferer. The feminine “kine” refers to the luxurious self-indulgent women of fashion in Samaria. **Which say to their masters** (*i.e.,* their husbands), **Br...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12-15. Sum of the measures of the temple, and of the buildings behind and on the side of it.

2

The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks .

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KJV Study Commentary

God pronounces judgment on the wealthy women: "The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks." The oath "by his holiness" invokes God's own nature as guarantee—He cannot lie or fail. The image of hooks and fishhooks describes brutal captivity. Assyrians famously led captives with hooks throu...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(2) **Fishhooks.**—Descriptive of the suddenness and irresistible character of the seizure, whereby, as a punishment for their wanton selfishness, the nobles were to be carried away as captives from their condition of fancied security. The strangeness of the imagery has led to a variety of interpretations. Döderlein translates “ye shall be driven into thorny districts, and among thorn bushes.”

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12-15. Sum of the measures of the temple, and of the buildings behind and on the side of it.

3

And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. cast: or, cast away the things of the palace

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her</strong> (וּפְרָצִים תֵּצֶאנָה אִשָּׁה נֶגְדָּהּ)—Following Amos's scathing address to Samaria's elite women as 'kine of Bashan' (v. 1), this verse depicts their humiliating exile. <em>Peratsim</em> (breaches) refers to gaps smashed in city walls during siege warfare. Each woman exits straight ahead through the nearest ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3) **Every cow** . . .—Render *each one* (ref. to the women, Amos 4:1) *straight before her.* The enemy shall have broken down the city’s defences, and the women shall tamely go forth through the breaches into captivity. The next clause is very obscure. It is best to take the verb as passive, *Ye shall be thrown out.* The word that follows is rendered “the palace” by the E.V. with Kimchi and othe...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**16. covered--**being the highest windows they were "covered" from the view below. Or else "covered with lattice-work."

4

Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: three: Heb. three years of days

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression</strong> (בֹּאוּ בֵית־אֵל וּפִשְׁעוּ הַגִּלְגָּל הַרְבּוּ לִפְשֹׁעַ)—Devastating prophetic sarcasm: Amos commands Israel to intensify the very sins bringing judgment. <em>Pasha</em> (transgress/rebel) is covenant violation language, not mere sin but rebellion against divine authority. Bethel ('house of God'), where Jacob met...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **Bethel . . . Gilgal.—**In bitterly ironical words the prophet summons Israel to the calf-worship of Bethel, and to similar rites of bastard Jehovah-worship at Gilgal. These spots were full of sacred associations. The sarcastic force of the passage is lost in E.V. For “three years” read *every three days.* The law only required a tithe every third year (Deuteronomy 26:12); but here the prophe...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**17. by measure--**Measurements were taken [Fairbairn].

5

And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. offer: Heb. offer by burning this: Heb. so ye love

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven</strong> (וְקַטֵּר מֵחָמֵץ תּוֹדָה)—The sarcasm intensifies. <em>Chamets</em> (leaven) was explicitly forbidden in most sacrifices (Leviticus 2:11), though permitted in peace offerings (Leviticus 7:13). Amos mocks their fastidious ritual while violating covenant substance. <strong>Proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) The margin is more correct, and gives the key to the passage. Render, *and offer by burning your thank-offering of leaven.* Leaven was not allowed in any sacrifice offered by fire. Amos ironically calls upon them to break the Levitical law (Leviticus 7:13; Leviticus 23:17), as he knew they were in the habit of doing.

6

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities</strong> (וְגַם־אֲנִי נָתַתִּי לָכֶם נִקְיוֹן שִׁנַּיִם בְּכָל־עָרֵיכֶם)—Haunting euphemism: 'clean teeth' means no food to chew, i.e., famine. The Hebrew <em>niqyon shinayim</em> (cleanness of teeth) poetically describes starvation. <strong>Want of bread in all your places</strong> (וְחֹסֶר לֶחֶם בְּכָל־מְקוֹמוֹתֵיכֶם) makes the ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) **Cleanness of teeth** is, by the poetic parallelism, identified with the want of bread, the former phrase being a graphic representation of one of the ghastly aspects of famine; clean, sharp, prominent teeth projecting from the thin lips. Notwithstanding their chastisement, God says, “Ye have not returned even up to me.” Jehovah is here introduced as grieving over the failure of his disciplin...

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7

And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest</strong> (וְגַם אָנֹכִי מָנַעְתִּי מִכֶּם אֶת־הַגֶּשֶׁם בְּעוֹד שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים לַקָּצִיר)—God controls weather patterns to discipline covenant violators. The 'three months to harvest' specifies the critical late spring rains (March-April) essential for grain maturation. Without them, crops fail. <stro...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7, 8) **Three months to the harvest.—**The withdrawal of rain at this period (February and March) is at the present day most calamitous to the crops in Palestine. **Caused it to rain** . . .—The tenses should be regarded as expressing repetition of the act, and might be, with advantage, rendered as present *cause it to rain* . . . *is rained upon,* &c. The inhabitants of the most suffering distri...

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8

So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water</strong> (וְנָעוּ שְׁתַּיִם שָׁלֹשׁ עָרִים אֶל־עִיר אַחַת לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם)—The verb <em>na'u</em> (wandered/staggered) depicts desperate migration for water during drought. Multiple cities converging on one location with remaining water supply paints vivid desperation. <strong>But they were not satisfied</strong> (וְלֹא יִשְׂבָ...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**21. appearance of the one as the appearance of the other--**The appearance of the sanctuary or holy of holies was similar to that of the temple. They differed only in magnitude.

9

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. when: or, the multitude of your gardens, etc. did the palmerworm

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I have smitten you with blasting and mildew</strong> (הִכֵּיתִי אֶתְכֶם בַּשִּׁדָּפוֹן וּבַיֵּרָקוֹן, <em>hikketi etkhem bashshiddaphon uvayeraqon</em>)—God announces agricultural judgment using two Hebrew terms: <em>shiddaphon</em> (שִׁדָּפוֹן, scorching east wind that withers crops) and <em>yeraqon</em> (יֵרָקוֹן, literally "yellowness," blight or mildew). These covenant curses from Deut...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) **Blasting and mildew.—**Burning up the corn before it is ready to ear, and producing a tawny yellow, instead of golden red, was another judgment. Nothing escapes the Divine visitation. “Your gardens, vineyards, fig-trees, and olive-trees”—which in a well-watered enclosure might escape the general drought—*the locust devours in vast numbers* (so the Heb. should be rendered); comp. Joel 1:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**22. table ... before the Lord--**the altar of incense (Eze 44:16). At it, not at the table of showbread, the priests daily ministered. It stood in front of the veil, and is therefore said to be "before the Lord." It is called a table, as being that at which the Lord will take delight in His people, as at a feast. Hence its dimensions are larger than that of old--three cubits high, two broad, ins...

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I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. after: or, in the way and have: Heb. with the captivity of your horses

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.</strong> This verse details God's covenant discipline against rebellious Israel. "Pestilence after the manner of Egypt" (<em>dever...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10) **With the captivity of your horses.**—This, the marginal reading, is more exact. Egypt is the birthplace of the plague or black death, and the circumstances augmenting its horror are here terribly portrayed. G. Baur thinks, that since the drought is mentioned after the famine as its true cause, so here the prophet explains the cause of the pestilence, or the way in which it would be brought ...

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I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah</strong> (הָפַכְתִּי בָכֶם כְּמַהְפֵּכַת אֱלֹהִים אֶת־סְדֹם וְאֶת־עֲמֹרָה, <em>haphakhti vakhem kemahpekhat Elohim et-Sedom ve'et-Amorah</em>)—the verb <em>haphak</em> (הָפַךְ, "overthrow/destroy utterly") is the specific term for Sodom and Gomorrah's fiery destruction (Genesis 19:25, 29). God warns Israel: you've experienc...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(11) **Overthrown.**—Another awful calamity, an earthquake, is referred to, and perhaps a volcanic eruption. Dr. Pusey enumerates a long series of earthquakes, which distressed Palestine, though not the central parts of the country, from the time of Julian to the twelfth century. The allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah gives a hint of the fierce licence and vice which had prevailed in some parts of the...

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Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

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KJV Study Commentary

This verse contains one of Scripture's most sobering calls: "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." The Hebrew <em>lakhen koh-e'eseh lekha Yisra'el eqev ki-zot e'eseh-lak hikon liqrat Eloheyka Yisra'el</em> deliberately leaves the specific judgment undefined ("thus will I do"). This rhetorical strategy intensifies dre...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(12) **Thus will I do.—**What is he about to do? It is left in awful uncertainty, but the doom is wrapt up in the boundless possibilities of the Divine judgment involved in the drawing very near of the Lord Himself, to execute what He has said and sworn by His Holiness in Amos 4:2-3. All that had previously been done in famine, drought, blighting pestilence, and earthquake, was not final, and had ...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**25. thick planks--**a thick-plank work at the threshold.

For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. wind: or, spirit

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KJV Study Commentary

This doxology proclaims Yahweh's cosmic sovereignty: <strong>He that formeth the mountains</strong> (יֹצֵר הָרִים, <em>yotzer harim</em>)—the participle emphasizes continuous creative power. <strong>And createth the wind</strong> (וּבֹרֵא רוּחַ, <em>uvore ruach</em>)—רוּחַ (<em>ruach</em>) means both 'wind' and 'spirit,' suggesting God's control over both physical and spiritual realms. <strong>And...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(13) **God of hosts.—**The Lord whom they have to meet is no mere national deity, but the supreme Creator. **Createth the wind.**—Not “spirit” (as margin). But the two ideas “wind” and “spirit” were closely associated in Heb. (as in Greek), being designated by the same word *ruach* (in Greek πνεῦμα, comp. John 3:8). Hence the transition in thought to the next clause is natural. This is curiously r...

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