Catholic Commentary on Amos 4

“Prepare to meet your God, Israel.” (Amos 4:12)

Failure to Return to the LORD

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, bring us some drinks! The LORD has sworn by his holiness: the time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks and the last of you with fishhooks. I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town - yet you have not returned to me. I also withheld rain from you. I struck your gardens and vineyards. I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword. Yet you have not returned to me. Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.

The Catechism draws from the repeated yet you have not returned to me the principle that providential correction, however severe, cannot compel the return that only freedom can give (CCC 311).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, prepare to meet your God. Five times the LORD recounts the corrective blows: famine, drought, blight, plague, war. Five times the devastating verdict: yet you have not returned to me. God tried five different approaches. They refused five times. The sixth word is not another correction but a summons: prepare to meet your God. Do not wait for the summons. Return now, before the meeting is forced.

Prayer

Lord God, we return to you now. Do not let us require every correction before we come. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4
Punishment Brings No Repentance
1 Hear this word,
you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,
who say to your husbands,
“Bring us more to drink.”
2 The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:
 
“Behold, the days are coming
when you will be taken away with hooks,
and your posterity with fishhooks.
3 You will go out through broken walls,
each one straight ahead of her,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon,* 4:3 That is, possibly Mount Hermon”
declares the LORD.
4 “Go to Bethel and transgress;
rebel even more at Gilgal!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days.† 4:4 Or years
5 Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings.
For that is what you children of Israel love to do,”
declares the Lord GOD.
6 “I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth ‡ 4:6 That is, with empty stomachs
and all your towns with lack of bread,
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares the LORD.
7 “I also withheld the rain from you
when the harvest was three months away.
I sent rain on one city
but withheld it from another.
One field received rain;
another without rain withered.
8 People staggered from city to city
for water to drink,
but they were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares the LORD.
9 “I struck you with blight and mildew
in your growing gardens and vineyards;
the locust devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares the LORD.
10 “I sent plagues among you
like those of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares the LORD.
11 “Some of you I overthrew
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a firebrand § 4:11 That is, a burning stick snatched from a blaze,
yet you did not return to Me,”
declares the LORD.
12 “Therefore, that is what I will do
to you, O Israel,
and since I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 For behold, He who forms the mountains,
who creates the wind
and reveals His thoughts to man,
who turns the dawn to darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth-
the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

*4:3 4:3 That is, possibly Mount Hermon

†4:4 4:4 Or years

‡4:6 4:6 That is, with empty stomachs

§4:11 4:11 That is, a burning stick

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