Passage
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:9 (KJV)
Nearby Context
Amos 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
Amos 4:8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "smitten", "blasting", "mildew", "gardens", "vineyards", "trees", and "olive". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "smitten" and "blasting", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 8's "So two or three cities wandered unto..." into verse 10's "I have sent among you the pestilence...", so "smitten" and "blasting" belong inside that flow. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "smitten" and "blasting" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.