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Amos 4

Amos exposes oppression and boastful worship, recounts Israel’s refusal to return, and announces an encounter with the God who rules creation.

Amos confronts the wealthy women of Samaria for crushing the poor while demanding drinks from their husbands. Speaking through the prophet, God announces their removal, then mocks Israel’s eager sacrifices at Bethel and Gilgal. God recounts famine, drought, crop loss, and devastation, each followed by Israel’s failure to return to him. The closing warning tells Israel to prepare to meet its God, whose rule extends over the mountains, wind, and darkness.

injustice and angerguilt and confessionsermon or Bible study notes
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1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, “Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.
3You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD.
4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them; for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD.
6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
7“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
9“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
10“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
12“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Amos 4:13The closing description identifies Israel’s judge as the Creator whose power reaches across the earth and into human thought.
Amos 4:1The opening accusation ties Samaria’s luxury to the oppression of poor people, grounding the coming judgment in concrete wrongdoing.
Amos 4:11The image of a stick rescued from fire shows how close Israel came to destruction without returning to God.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy shares the warnings of drought, crop failure, and disease as consequences of covenant disobedience, while Exodus supplies the account of plagues against Egypt that Amos recalls. Hosea shares the charge that Israel’s worship coexists with rebellion and the call to return to God.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What connection does Amos draw between the treatment of poor people and the worship offered at Israel’s shrines?

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What does the repeated refusal to return reveal about Israel’s response to God?

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Questions people ask about Amos 4

Who are the cows of Bashan in Amos 4?

The phrase appears to target wealthy women in Samaria, since Amos describes them telling their husbands to bring drinks. Bashan was known for rich pasture and well-fed cattle, making the comparison a sharp insult aimed at luxury. Amos states the charge against them: they oppress the poor and crush the needy.

What does cleanness of teeth mean in Amos 4:6?

“Cleanness of teeth” describes hunger: there is no food to leave anything on their teeth. The next phrase, “lack of bread in every town,” makes the image clear. God names this famine among the disasters Israel endured, then repeats the charge that the people still had not returned to him.

What does prepare to meet your God mean in Amos 4:12?

In context, this is a warning of judgment. Israel has failed to return to God through repeated disasters, and now God announces a further confrontation without specifying its form here. The next verse identifies the one Israel must face as the Creator who forms mountains and rules over the earth.

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Amos · 9 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).