Amos 4:1 (WEB)

Passage

Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

Nearby Context

Amos 4:1 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

Amos 4:2 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.

Amos 4:3 You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says Yahweh.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "listen", "word", "cows", "bashan", "mountain", "samaria", "oppress", and "poor". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "listen" and "word", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The next verse adds "The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his...", so "listen" and "word" should be read forward into that movement. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "listen" and "word" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.