Amos 4:1-7

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ²  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ³  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ⁴ 

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ⁵ 

“Certainly the time is approaching ⁶ 

when you will be carried away ⁷  in baskets, ⁸ 

every last one of you ⁹  in fishermen’s pots. ¹⁰ 

4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹¹ 

you will be thrown out ¹²  toward Harmon.” ¹³ 

The Lord is speaking!

Israel has an Appointment with God

4:4 “Go to Bethel ¹⁴  and rebel! ¹⁵ 

At Gilgal ¹⁶  rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in ¹⁷  the morning,

your tithes on ¹⁸  the third day!

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ¹⁹ 

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ²⁰ 

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

4:6 “But surely I gave ²¹  you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live. ²² 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ²³ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ²⁴  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

[4:1]  ¹ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “their.”

[4:1]  ⁴ sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”

[4:3]  ¹² tn The Hiphil verb form has no object. It may be intransitive (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 425), though many emend it to a Hophal.

[4:3]  ¹³ tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Many understand it as a place name, though such a location is not known. Some (e.g., H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia[, 204) emend to “Hermon” or to similarly written words, such as “the dung heap” (NEB, NJPS), “the garbage dump” (NCV), or “the fortress” (cf. NLT “your fortresses”).

[4:4]  ¹⁴ sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.

[4:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).

[4:4]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.

[4:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[4:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “for.”

[4:5]  ¹⁹ sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.

[4:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

[4:6]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).

[4:6]  ²² tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.

[4:7]  ²³ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.