I have sent among you pestilence by the way of Egypt, I have slain by sword your choice ones, With your captive horses, And I cause the stink of your camps to come up--even into your nostrils, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Amos 4:8 And wandered have two or three cities, Unto the same city to drink water, And they are not satisfied, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and with mildew, The abundance of your gardens and of your vineyards, And of your figs, and of your olives, Eat doth the palmer-worm, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you pestilence by the way of Egypt, I have slain by sword your choice ones, With your captive horses, And I cause the stink of your camps to come up--even into your nostrils, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Amos 4:11 I have overturned among you, Like the overturn by God of Sodom and Gomorrah, And ye are as a brand delivered from a burning, And ye have not turned back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Amos 4:12 Therefore, thus I do to thee, O Israel, at last, Because this I do to thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
The verse centers on "sent", "pestilence", "egypt", "slain", "sword", "choice", "ones", and "captive". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sent" and "pestilence", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 9's "I have smitten you with blasting and..." into verse 11's "I have overturned among you Like the...", so "sent" and "pestilence" 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 "sent" and "pestilence" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.