4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, And cause the poor of the land to fail,
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And don't call on Yahweh?
There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, And their jaws like knives, To devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.
[Micaiah] said, Therefore hear you the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
"Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says Yahweh; "I will set him in safety from those who malign him."
I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, And justice for the needy.
Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and don't hear:
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have sold the righteous for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes; They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And deny justice to the oppressed; And a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
Now therefore listen to the word of Yahweh: 'You say, Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against the house of Isaac.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Amos 8
Commentary on Amos 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
Sinful times are here attended with sorrowful times, so necessary is the connexion between them; it is threatened here again and again that the laughter shall be turned into mourning.
Amo 8:1-3
The great reason why sinners defer their repentance de die in diem-from day to day, is because they think God thus defers his judgments, and there is no song wherewith they so effectually sing themselves asleep as that, My Lord delays his coming; and therefore God, by his prophets, frequently represents to Israel the day of his wrath not only as just and certain, but as very near and hastening on apace; so he does in these verses.
Amo 8:4-10
God is here contending with proud oppressors, and showing them,
Amo 8:11-14
In these verses is threatened,