Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Amos » Chapter 8 » Verse 4

Amos 8:4 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 Hear H8085 this, O ye that swallow up H7602 the needy, H34 even to make H7673 the poor H6041 H6035 of the land H776 to fail, H7673

Cross Reference

Psalms 14:4 STRONG

Have all the workers H6466 of iniquity H205 no knowledge? H3045 who eat up H398 my people H5971 as they eat H398 bread, H3899 and call H7121 not upon the LORD. H3068

Proverbs 30:14 STRONG

There is a generation, H1755 whose teeth H8127 are as swords, H2719 and their jaw teeth H4973 as knives, H3979 to devour H398 the poor H6041 from off the earth, H776 and the needy H34 from among men. H120

Amos 5:11 STRONG

Forasmuch H3282 therefore as your treading H1318 is upon the poor, H1800 and ye take H3947 from him burdens H4864 of wheat: H1250 ye have built H1129 houses H1004 of hewn stone, H1496 but ye shall not dwell H3427 in them; ye have planted H5193 pleasant H2531 vineyards, H3754 but ye shall not drink H8354 wine H3196 of them.

1 Kings 22:19 STRONG

And he said, H559 Hear H8085 thou therefore the word H1697 of the LORD: H3068 I saw H7200 the LORD H3068 sitting H3427 on his throne, H3678 and all the host H6635 of heaven H8064 standing H5975 by him on his right hand H3225 and on his left. H8040

Psalms 12:5 STRONG

For the oppression H7701 of the poor, H6041 for the sighing H603 of the needy, H34 now will I arise, H6965 saith H559 the LORD; H3068 I will set H7896 him in safety H3468 from him that puffeth H6315 at him.

Psalms 56:1 STRONG

[[To the chief Musician H5329 upon Jonathelemrechokim, H3128 Michtam H4387 of David, H1732 when the Philistines H6430 took H270 him in Gath.]] H1661 Be merciful H2603 unto me, O God: H430 for man H582 would swallow me up; H7602 he fighting H3898 daily H3117 oppresseth H3905 me.

Psalms 140:12 STRONG

I know H3045 that the LORD H3068 will maintain H6213 the cause H1779 of the afflicted, H6041 and the right H4941 of the poor. H34

Isaiah 1:10 STRONG

Hear H8085 the word H1697 of the LORD, H3068 ye rulers H7101 of Sodom; H5467 give ear H238 unto the law H8451 of our God, H430 ye people H5971 of Gomorrah. H6017

Isaiah 28:14 STRONG

Wherefore hear H8085 the word H1697 of the LORD, H3068 ye scornful H3944 men, H582 that rule H4910 this people H5971 which is in Jerusalem. H3389

Isaiah 32:6-7 STRONG

For the vile person H5036 will speak H1696 villany, H5039 and his heart H3820 will work H6213 iniquity, H205 to practise H6213 hypocrisy, H2612 and to utter H1696 error H8442 against the LORD, H3068 to make empty H7324 the soul H5315 of the hungry, H7457 and he will cause the drink H4945 of the thirsty H6771 to fail. H2637 The instruments H3627 also of the churl H3596 are evil: H7451 he deviseth H3289 wicked devices H2154 to destroy H2254 the poor H6041 H6035 with lying H8267 words, H561 even when the needy H34 speaketh H1696 right. H4941

Jeremiah 5:21 STRONG

Hear H8085 now this, O foolish H5530 people, H5971 and without understanding; H3820 which have eyes, H5869 and see H7200 not; which have ears, H241 and hear H8085 not:

Jeremiah 28:15 STRONG

Then said H559 the prophet H5030 Jeremiah H3414 unto Hananiah H2608 the prophet, H5030 Hear H8085 now, Hananiah; H2608 The LORD H3068 hath not sent H7971 thee; but thou makest this people H5971 to trust H982 in a lie. H8267

Amos 2:6-7 STRONG

Thus saith H559 the LORD; H3068 For three H7969 transgressions H6588 of Israel, H3478 and for four, H702 I will not turn away H7725 the punishment thereof; because they sold H4376 the righteous H6662 for silver, H3701 and the poor H34 for a pair of shoes; H5275 That pant H7602 after the dust H6083 of the earth H776 on the head H7218 of the poor, H1800 and turn aside H5186 the way H1870 of the meek: H6035 and a man H376 and his father H1 will go H3212 in unto the same maid, H5291 to profane H2490 my holy H6944 name: H8034

Amos 7:16 STRONG

Now therefore hear H8085 thou the word H1697 of the LORD: H3068 Thou sayest, H559 Prophesy H5012 not against Israel, H3478 and drop H5197 not thy word against the house H1004 of Isaac. H3446

Matthew 23:13 STRONG

But G1161 woe G3759 unto you, G5213 scribes G1122 and G2532 Pharisees, G5330 hypocrites! G5273 for G3754 ye shut up G2808 the kingdom G932 of heaven G3772 against G1715 men: G444 for G1063 ye G5210 neither G3761 go in G1525 yourselves, neither G3756 suffer ye G863 them that are entering G1525 to go in. G1525

James 5:6 STRONG

Ye have condemned G2613 and killed G5407 the just; G1342 and he doth G498 not G3756 resist G498 you. G5213

Commentary on Amos 8 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 8

Am 8:1-14. Vision of a Basket of Summer Fruit Symbolical, of Israel's End. Resuming the Series of Symbols Interrupted by Amaziah, Amos Adds a Fourth. The Avarice of the Oppressors of the Poor: The Overthrow of the Nation: The Wish for the Means of Religious Counsel, when There Shall Be a Famine of the Word.

1. summer fruit—Hebrew, kitz. In Am 8:2 "end" is in Hebrew, keetz. The similarity of sounds implies that, as the summer is the end of the year and the time of the ripeness of fruits, so Israel is ripe for her last punishment, ending her national existence. As the fruit is plucked when ripe from the tree, so Israel from her land.

2. end—(Eze 7:2, 6).

3. songs of … temple—(Am 5:23). The joyous hymns in the temple of Judah (or rather, in the Beth-el "royal temple," Am 7:13; for the allusion is to Israel, not Judah, throughout this chapter) shall be changed into "howlings." Grotius translates, "palace"; compare Am 6:5, as to the songs there. But Am 5:23, and Am 7:13, favor English Version.

they shall cast them forth with silence—not as the Margin, "be silent." It is an adverb, "silently." There shall be such great slaughter as even to prevent the bodies being buried [Calvin]. There shall be none of the usual professional mourners (Am 5:16), but the bodies will be cast out in silence. Perhaps also is meant that terror, both of God (compare Am 6:10) and of the foe, shall close their lips.

4. Hear—The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.

swallow up the needy—or, "gape after," that is, pant for their goods; so the word is used, Job 7:2, Margin.

to make the poor … to fail—"that they (themselves) may be placed alone in the midst of the earth" (Isa 5:8).

5. So greedy are they of unjust gain that they cannot spare a single day, however sacred, from pursuing it. They are strangers to God and enemies to themselves, who love market days better than sabbath days; and they who have lost piety will not long keep honesty. The new moons (Nu 10:10) and sabbaths were to be kept without working or trading (Ne 10:31).

set forth wheat—literally, "open out" stores of wheat for sale.

ephah—containing three seahs, or above three pecks.

making … small—making it below the just weight to purchasers.

shekel great—taking from purchasers a greater weight of money than was due. Shekels used to be weighed out in payments (Ge 23:16). Thus they committed a double fraud against the law (De 25:13, 14).

6. buy … poor for silver … pair of shoes—that is, that we may compel the needy for money, or any other thing of however little worth, to sell themselves to us as bondmen, in defiance of Le 25:39; the very thing which brings down God's judgment (Am 2:6).

sell the refuse of … wheat—which contains no nutriment, but which the poor eat at a low price, being unable to pay for flour.

7. Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob—that is, by Himself, in whom Jacob's seed glory [Maurer]. Rather, by the spiritual privileges of Israel, the adoption as His peculiar people [Calvin], the temple, and its Shekinah symbol of His presence. Compare Am 6:8, where it means Jehovah's temple (compare Am 4:2).

never forget—not pass by without punishing (Am 8:2; Ho 8:13; 9:9).

8. the land … rise up wholly as a flood—The land will, as it were, be wholly turned into a flooding river (a flood being the image of overwhelming calamity, Da 9:26).

cast out and drowned, &c.—swept away and overwhelmed, as the land adjoining the Nile is by it, when flooding (Am 9:5). The Nile rises generally twenty feet. The waters then "cast out" mire and dirt (Isa 57:20).

9. "Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities (Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7-10).

10. baldness—a sign of mourning (Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37; Eze 7:18).

I will make it as … mourning of an only son—"it," that is, "the earth" (Am 8:9). I will reduce the land to such a state that there shall be the same occasion for mourning as when parents mourn for an only son (Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10).

11. famine of … hearing the words of the Lord—a just retribution on those who now will not hear the Lord's prophets, nay even try to drive them away, as Amaziah did (Am 7:12); they shall look in vain, in their distress, for divine counsel, such as the prophets now offer (Eze 7:26; Mic 3:7). Compare as to the Jews' rejection of Messiah, and their consequent rejection by Him (Mt 21:43); and their desire for Messiah too late (Lu 17:22; Joh 7:34; 8:21). So, the prodigal when he had sojourned awhile in the "far-off country, began to be in want" in the "mighty famine" which arose (Lu 15:14; compare 1Sa 3:1; 7:2). It is remarkable that the Jews' religion is almost the only one that could be abolished against the will of the people themselves, on account of its being dependent on a particular place, namely, the temple. When that was destroyed, the Mosaic ritual, which could not exist without it, necessarily ceased. Providence designed it, that, as the law gave way to the Gospel, so all men should perceive it was so, in spite of the Jews' obstinate rejection of the Gospel.

12. they shall wander from sea to sea—that is, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, from east to west.

from … north … to … east—where we might expect "from north to south." But so alienated was Israel from Judah, that no Israelite even then would think of repairing southward, that is, to Jerusalem for religious information. The circuit is traced as in Nu 34:3, &c., except that the south is omitted. Their "seeking the word of the Lord" would not be from a sincere desire to obey God, but under the pressure of punishment.

13. faint for thirst—namely, thirst for hearing the words of the Lord, being destitute of all other comfort. If even the young and strong faint, how much more the infirm (Isa 40:30, 31)!

14. swear by the sin of Samaria—namely, the calves (De 9:21; Ho 4:15). "Swear by" means to worship (Ps 63:11).

The manner—that is, as "the way" is used (Ps 139:24; Ac 9:2), the mode of worship.

Thy god, O Dan—the other golden calf at Dan (1Ki 22:26-30).

liveth … liveth—rather, "May thy god … live … may the manner … live." Or, "As (surely as) thy god, O Dan, liveth." This is their formula when they swear; not "May Jehovah live!" or, "As Jehovah liveth!"