Amos 8 · Verse 4

Amos 8:4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

Amos 8:4, King James Version

Amos 8:4 in other translations

BSB	Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
WEB	Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
ASV	Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
YLT	Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,
DARBY	Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land,
BBE	Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land,
Webster	Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

What does Amos 8:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. 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).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy - Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Amos 8:4-10

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 better than in communion with God? When employed in religious services, they were thinking of marketings. They were weary of holy duties, because their worldly business stood still the while. Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, who love market days better than sabbath days, who would rather be selling corn than worshipping God. They have no regard to man: those who have lost the savour of piety, will not long keep the sense of common honesty. They cheat those they deal with. They take advantage of their neighbour's ignorance or necessity, in a traffic which nearly concerns the labouring poor. Could we witness the fraud and covetousness, which, in such numerous forms, render trading an abomination to the Lord, we should not wonder to see many dealers backward in the service of God. But he who thus despises the poor, reproaches his Maker; as it regards Him, rich and poor meet together. Riches that are got by the ruin of the poor, will bring ruin on those that get them. God will remember their sin against them. This speaks the case of such unjust, unmerciful men, to be miserable indeed, miserable for ever. There shall be terror and desolation every where. It shall come upon them when they little think of it. Thus uncertain are all our creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; in the midst of life we are in death. What will be the wailing in the bitter day which follows sinful and sensual pleasures!

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Amos 8:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שִׁמְעוּ\־shim.'u-hearH8085

זֹ֕אתzotthisH2063

הַשֹּׁאֲפִ֖יםha.sho.'a.FimO those [who] trample onH7602

אֶבְי֑וֹן'ev.Yon[the] needyH34

וְלַשְׁבִּ֖יתve.lash.Bitand to put an end toH7673

עֲנִיֵּיan.vei-[the] afflicted [people] ofH6041

אָֽרֶץ\׃'A.retz[the] landH776

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Amos 8:4

Proverbs 30:14
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
Amos 5:11
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
Psalms 14:4
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.
Isaiah 32:6-7
For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
Psalms 12:5
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
Psalms 140:12
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
Amos 2:6-7
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
Matthew 23:13
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
James 5:6
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Jeremiah 5:21
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
1 Kings 22:19
And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Hear.
7:16; 1Ki 22:19; Isa 1:10; 28:14; Jer 5:21; 28:15
swallow.
2:6; 5:11; Ps 12:5; 14:4; 56:1; 140:12; Pr 30:14; Isa 32:6,7
Mt 23:14; Jas 5:6

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Amos 8:3
And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
Amos 8:4
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
Amos 8:5
Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

Read all of Amos 8

Amos 8:4 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Oid esto, los que tragáis á los menesterosos, y arruináis los pobres de la tierra,
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Écoutez ceci, vous qui êtes acharnés après les pauvres pour faire disparaître les débonnaires du pays,
German Elberfelder 1871	Höret dieses, die ihr nach dem Dürftigen schnaubet und nach der Vernichtung der Sanftmütigen im Lande,
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Audite hoc, qui conteritis pauperem, et deficere facitis egenos terræ,