Amos 4:1

LEB

Amos 4:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

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.

Ye kine

The mountain

Amos 6:1

1 Kings 16:24

Which oppress

Crush

Deuteronomy 28:33

Job 20:19

Bring

Amos 2:8

Joel 3:3

General references

Deuteronomy 24:14

Jeremiah 17:20

Bible References

Ye kine

[With] curds from [the] herd, and [with] milk from [the] flock, with [the] fat of young rams, and rams, the offspring of Bashan, and with goats [along] with the finest kernels of wheat, and [from] the blood of grapes you drank fermented wine.

Many bulls have encircled me; mighty [bulls] of Bashan have surrounded me.

"Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my inheritance, though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass, and you neigh like the powerful stallions,

Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, [and] the fattened animals of Bashan--all of them!

The mountain

Alas [for] those being at ease in Zion, and those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the notables of the best of the nations! The house of Israel resorts to them.

then bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, fortified the hill, and called the name of the city Samaria that he built after Shemer, the owner of the hill.

Which oppress

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals!

Proclaim to the citadel fortresses in Ashdod and the citadel fortresses in the land of Egypt and say: "Gather on the mountains of Samaria and see the great panic in her midst and the oppression in her midst!"

Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine.

Hear this, those who trample on [the] poor and who annihilate the afflicted of [the] land,

" 'You will not mistreat an alien, and you will not oppress him, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

{Take care} so that there will not be {a thought of wickedness} in your heart, {saying}, 'The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,' {and you view your needy neighbor with hostility}, and [so] you [do] not give to him, and he might cry [out] against you to Yahweh, and {you would incur guilt against yourself}.

"Because of [the] oppression of [the] afflicted, because of [the] groaning of [the] poor, now I will rise up," Yahweh says. "I shall put [them] in [the] safety [for which] they long."

I know that Yahweh will maintain [the] cause of [the] afflicted, [and] justice for [the] needy.

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate;

Do not remove an ancient boundary marker, and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun. {I saw the tears of the oppressed-- no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful-- no one can comfort them}!

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue [the] oppressed! Defend [the] orphan! Plead for [the] widow!

Ah! Those who {join} house with house, they join field together with field until {there is no place} and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

Is this not [the] fast I choose: to release [the] bonds of injustice, to untie [the] ropes of [the] yoke, and to let [the] oppressed go free, and {tear} every yoke to pieces?

For wicked people are found among my people, they lie in wait like the hiding of fowlers, they set up a trap, they catch humans.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This [is] the city that must be punished, its oppression [is] in its midst.

you do not oppress [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods {to your harm},

They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; {they violated} the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated [the] orphan and widow.

Woe [to] those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands.

And I said, "Listen, O heads of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel! [Is it] not for you to know justice?

You must not oppress [the] widow, [the] orphan, [the] foreigner, and [the] needy. You must not devise evil in your heart {against one another}.'

"Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear {falsely}, and against the oppressors of [the] hired worker [with his] wages, [the] widow and [the] orphan, and {the abusers of} [the] alien, and [yet] do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

Come now, you rich people, weep [and] cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you!

Crush

A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed {for the rest of your lives}.

for he has oppressed; he has abandoned [the] poor; he has seized a house but did not build it.

Bring

They stretch themselves out beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge and they drink wine, bought with fines imposed, in the house of their God.

For my people they cast lots, and {they traded} the male child for the prostitute, and the female child they sold for wine and they drank [it].

General references

"You shall not exploit a hired worker, [who is] needy and poor, from among your fellow men or from [among] your aliens who are in your land [and] in your {towns}.

And you must say to them, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.