ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Amos 4.4

Book: Amos · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

2. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah.

4. Come to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days;

  1. and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. (Amos 4:2-6, ASV)
WEB

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

4. “Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,

  1. offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh. 6. “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. (Amos 4:2-6, WEB)
KJV

2. The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. cast: or, cast away the things of the palace

4. Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: three: Heb. three years of days

  1. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. offer: Heb. offer by burning this: Heb. so ye love 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. (Amos 4:2-6, KJV)
YLT

2. Sworn hath the Lord Jehovah by His holiness, That lo, days are coming upon you, And he hath taken you away with hooks, And your posterity with fish-hooks. 3. And [by] breaches ye go forth, A woman [at that] over-against her, And ye have cast down the high place, An affirmation of Jehovah.

4. Enter ye Beth-El, and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression, And bring in every morning your sacrifices, Every third year your tithes.

  1. And perfume with leaven a thank-offering, And proclaim willing gifts, sound ye! For so ye have loved, O sons of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. 6. And I also, I have given to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places, And ye have not turned back unto Me, an affirmation of Jehovah. (Amos 4:2-6, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Amos of Tekoa, a herdsman (noqed, sheep breeder) and tender of sycamore figs from Judah, speaking the word of the LORD.
  • Audience: The northern kingdom of Israel, addressed at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
  • Location: Delivered in the northern kingdom, principally at Bethel, the royal sanctuary and state temple (Amos 7:13).
  • Time period: c. 760-750 BC, in the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, "two years before the earthquake" (Amos 1:1). Amos is generally reckoned the earliest of the writing prophets.

Theological reading

A parody, and the sarcasm is the argument.

The line takes the form of a priestly summons, the invitation a worshiper would actually have heard at the sanctuary gate: come to Bethel, come to Gilgal, bring your sacrifices, bring your tithes. Amos keeps the cadence exactly and swaps one word, so the summons reads come to Bethel and transgress. The verb is pasha (H6588 - pesha), covenant rebellion, the strongest of the three main sin-words.

Why the two named sites. Bethel was the royal sanctuary of the northern kingdom (Amos 7:13), housing one of the two golden calves Jeroboam I installed (1 Kings 12:28-29); Gilgal was the entry-point shrine associated with the crossing into the land (Joshua 4:19-20). Amos is not naming irregular high places but the two most historically respectable sanctuaries available.

The point is not that they were skipping worship. The verse assumes an enthusiastic and well-funded cult: sacrifices every morning, tithes every three days, a schedule more frequent than the Torah requires. Amos's charge throughout chapters 4 and 5 is that scrupulous liturgy was running alongside judicial corruption and debt-slavery, and that the worshipers found the arrangement satisfying, which is the sting in the next verse: "for so you love to do."

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.