EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Amos 8:4
4So listen to me, you who are cruel to helpless people. You try to destroy people who are poor and weak.
Amos 8:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
- New International Version (NIV)Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
- English Standard Version (ESV)Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,
- New King James Version (NKJV)Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail,
Context of Amos 8:4
2He asked me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ I answered him, ‘I see a basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The time has now come to punish my people. I will not forgive them any longer. 3On the day that I come to punish them, people will not sing in the temple. Instead they will weep loudly. There will be dead bodies everywhere. Be quiet now!’ That is what the Lord God says. So listen to me, you who are cruel to helpless people. You try to destroy people who are poor and weak. 5You say to yourselves, ‘We want the new moon festival to finish so that we can sell food again. We want our Sabbath day of rest to finish so that we can sell grain.’ But when you sell things, you cheat the people who buy from you. You deceive them with false weights, and you make the price too high. 6When poor people cannot pay their debts, you buy them as your slaves. You pay a silver coin to buy them, which would not even buy a pair of shoes. You also mix dust with the grain that you sell.
Read all of Amos 8Amos 8:4 word by word
שִׁמְעוּ־זֹ֕את הַשֹּׁאֲפִ֖ים אֶבְי֑וֹן וְלַשְׁבִּ֖ית עֲנִיֵּי אָֽרֶץ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Amos 8:4
- Amos 7:16So listen to the Lord's message to you! You are telling me, “Do not speak God's message against Israel. Do not say that trouble is coming to Isaac's descendants.”
- 1 Kings 22:19Then Micaiah said, ‘So now listen to the Lord's message! I saw the Lord as he was sitting on his throne. The great crowd of his angels in heaven were standing around him, on his right side and on his left side.
- Isaiah 1:10Yes, you are like the rulers of Sodom, so listen to the Lord's message! You are no better than the people in Gomorrah! So listen to what our God is saying to you.
- Isaiah 28:14So listen to the Lord's message, you leaders in Jerusalem who rule these people. Do not laugh at what the Lord is doing.
- Jeremiah 5:21Tell them, “Hear this message, you foolish and stupid people. You have eyes, but you do not see properly. You have ears, but you do not hear properly.” ’
- Jeremiah 28:15Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, ‘Listen to me, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you as his prophet. You have spoken lies to these people and they have believed you.
- Amos 2:6The Lord says, ‘The people in Israel have done more and more wrong things. So I will certainly punish them. They sold people that did not do wrong things. They sold them for silver. And they sold poor people for only the price of shoes.
- Amos 5:11You cheat poor people so that they pay too much tax. You take away their food for yourselves. Because of that, you will not live in the beautiful houses that you have built for yourselves. You will not drink wine from the vines that you have planted.
- Psalms 12:5But the Lord says: ‘Now I will do something! I know the cruel things that wicked people do to poor people. When weak people cry with pain, I hear them. So I will make them safe, as they want me to do for them.’
- Psalms 14:4Will those evil people never learn? They destroy my people, as if they are eating a meal. They never pray to the Lord.
- Psalms 56:1God, please be kind to me, and help me, because people are fighting me. My enemies are attacking me every day.
- Psalms 140:12I know that the Lord helps poor people. He makes sure that they receive justice.
- Proverbs 30:14There are some people who are very cruel. Their teeth are like swords and sharp knives. They want to eat up all the poor and helpless people, so that they disappear from the earth.
- Isaiah 32:6Stupid people say silly things. They think of evil things that they can do. They live in a way that does not respect God. The things that they teach about the Lord are false. They keep food away from hungry people. They give no drink to thirsty people.
- Matthew 23:14[It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.]
- James 5:6You say that a righteous person is guilty. You have even killed him and he could not stop you.
Commentaries on Amos 8:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy - Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Here ye this, ye that swallow - Or, better in the same sense, “that pant for the needy;” as Job says, “the hireling panteth for the evening” Job 7:2. They “panted for the poor,” as the wild beast for its prey; and “that to make the poor” or (better, as the Hebrew text,) “the meek”, those not poor only, but who, through poverty and affliction, are “poor in spirit” also, “to fail.” The land being divided among all the inhabitants, they, in order “to lay…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-10Verses 4-10 The rich and powerful of the land were the most guilty of oppression, as well as the foremost in idolatry. They were weary of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new moons, and wished them over, because no common work might be done therein. This is the character of many who are called Christians. The sabbath day and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts. It will either be profaned or be accounted a dull day. But can we spend our time…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-14This section provides more details on the accusations and decisions mentioned earlier (read with Amos 2:6–6:14).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. 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" (Is 5:8).Read the comment
Topics related to Amos 8:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Amos 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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