The Wealthy Women of Samaria
Study note
Amos calls the wealthy women of Samaria 'cows of Bashan.' Bashan was a region known for its rich pastures and fat cattle. These women crushed the poor and ordered their husbands to bring them more to drink. God swears by His own holiness that they will be dragged away with hooks, like fish being pulled from water.
1 Listen up, you pampered women of Samaria — lounging on your hilltop like well-fed cows of Bashan! You bully the poor and walk all over people who have nothing. You call to your husbands, "Bring us another drink!" 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.
2 The Lord GOD has made a serious promise on his own holiness: "The day is coming when they will drag you out with hooks. Every last one of you will be like fish on a line." 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.
3 "You will be hauled straight out through the broken walls, each heading in a different direction, and thrown out like trash," the LORD says. 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.
Mocking Israel's False Worship
Study note
Using sarcasm, Amos invites the people to go to Bethel and Gilgal and keep sinning through their empty religious rituals. These were worship centers where Israel practiced a corrupt form of worship. The people loved showing off their offerings and sacrifices, but their hearts were far from God. Amos is saying that their worship was actually rebellion.
4 "Go right ahead to Bethel and pile up your sins! Run to Gilgal and sin even more! Bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days!" Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
5 "Bake your special thanksgiving bread with yeast and brag about your generous offerings for everyone to hear! This is exactly the religion you people love," the Lord GOD says. 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.
Warnings Ignored Again and Again
Study note
God lists five different disasters He sent to get Israel's attention: famine, drought, crop disease, plague, and destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah. After each disaster, God repeats the heartbreaking phrase 'yet you did not return to me.' Each warning was an act of mercy meant to bring the people back to God, but they stubbornly refused every time.
6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every town and bare shelves in every home. But you still did not come back to me," says the Lord. 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.
7 "I held back the rain when you still had three months left before harvest. I let it rain on one town but kept it dry in the next. One farmer's field got soaked while his neighbor's crumbled to dust." 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.
8 "People from two or three towns would drag themselves to one town just to find a drink of water, and there was never enough. But you still did not come back to me," the LORD says. 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.
9 "I hit your gardens and vineyards with blight and disease. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees. But you still did not come back to me," the LORD says. 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.
10 "I sent plagues on you just like the ones I sent on Egypt. I let your young men die in battle and your horses be captured. I made the stench of death fill your nostrils. But you still did not come back to me," the LORD says. 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.
11 "I destroyed some of your cities the same way I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a half-burnt stick yanked from the flames at the last second. But you still did not come back to me," the LORD says. 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.
Prepare to Meet Your God
Study note
Because Israel has ignored every warning, God now delivers an awesome and terrifying declaration. The people must prepare to face God Himself in judgment. The chapter closes with a hymn praising God as the Creator who formed the mountains, created the wind, and walks on the heights of the earth. His name is the LORD, the God of hosts.
12 "So this is what is coming for you, Israel. And since this is what I have decided, get ready to face your God." Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 He is the one who shapes the mountains and creates the wind. He knows every thought you think. He can turn dawn into darkness and walk across the highest peaks on earth. His name is the LORD, the God of Armies. 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.