AMOS 4 [†] “Hear this word,  h you cows of Bashan,

who are  i on the mountain of Samaria,

 j who oppress the poor,  j who crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2[†]  k The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

 l when they shall take you away with hooks,

 l even the last of you with fishhooks.

3  m And you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”

declares the LORD.

4[†]  n “Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to  o Gilgal, and multiply transgression;

 n bring your  p sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

5[†] offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of  q that which is leavened,

and proclaim  r freewill offerings, publish them;

 s for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

declares the Lord GOD.

6[^][†] “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and  t lack of bread in all your places,

 u yet you did not return to me,”

declares the LORD.

7[†] “I also  v withheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

 w I would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

8 so two or three cities  x would wander to another city

to drink water, and would not be satisfied;

 u yet you did not return to me,”

declares the LORD.

9  y “I struck you with blight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees  z the locust devoured;

 u yet you did not return to me,”

declares the LORD.

10[†] “I sent among you a pestilence  a after the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

and  b carried away your horses, [1]

and  c I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

 u yet you did not return to me,”

declares the LORD.

11 “I overthrew some of you,

 d as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were  e as a brand [2] plucked out of the burning;

 u yet you did not return to me,”

declares the LORD.

12[†] “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13[†] For behold,  f he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and  g declares to man what is his thought,

 h who makes the morning darkness,

and  i treads on the heights of the earth—

 j the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!