Amos 4:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 4:1
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
word
הַדָּבָ֣רha.da.Var
H1697
a word · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
kine
פָּר֤וֹתpa.Rot
H6510
a heifer · noun, common feminine plural construct
Bashan
הַבָּשָׁן֙ha.ba.Shan
H1316
Bashan (often with the article) · definite article + proper noun, a place name
mountain
בְּהַ֣רbe.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Samaria
שֹֽׁמְר֔וֹןsho.me.Ron
H8111
Shomeron · proper noun, a place name
oppress
הָעֹשְׁק֣וֹתha.'o.she.Kot
H6231
to press upon · definite article + verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
poor
דַּלִּ֔יםda.Lim
H1800
properly · adjective, masculine plural absolute
crush
הָרֹצְצ֖וֹתha.ro.tze.Tzot
H7533
to crack in pieces · definite article + verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
needy
אֶבְיוֹנִ֑ים'ev.yo.Nim
H34
destitute · adjective, masculine plural absolute
say
הָאֹמְרֹ֥תha.'o.me.Rot
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
masters
לַאֲדֹֽנֵיהֶ֖םla.'a.do.nei.Hem
H113
sovereign · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Bring
הָבִ֥יאָהha.Vi.'ah
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
drink
וְנִשְׁתֶּֽהve.nish.Teh
H8354
to imbibe (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Amos 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israe…
Ezekiel 39:18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of…
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 sha…
Ecclesiastes 4:1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had…
Deuteronomy 15:9-11 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil aga…
Deuteronomy 28:33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway…
1 Kings 16:24 And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Amos 4:1-5
It is here foretold, in the name of God, that oppressors shall be humbled and idolaters shall be hardened.
I. That proud oppressors shall be humbled for their oppressions: for he that does wrong shall receive according to the wrong that he has done. Now observe,
1. How their sin is described, Amo 4:1. They are compared to the kine of Bashan, which were a breed of cattle very large and strong, especially if, though bred there, they were fed upon the mountain of Samaria, where the pastures were extraordinarily fat. Amos had been a herdsman, and he speaks in a dialect of his calling, comparing the rich and great men, that lived in luxury and wantonness, to the kine of Bashan, which were wanton…
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan - Such an address was quite natural from the herdsman of Tekoa. Bashan was famous for the fertility of its soil, and its flocks and herds; and the prophet here represents the iniquitous, opulent, idle, lazy drones, whether men or women, under the idea of fatted bullocks, which were shortly to be led out to the slaughter.
John Gill on Amos 4:1
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan,.... Or "cows of Bashan" (n); a country beyond Jordan, inhabited by the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, very fruitful of pasturage, and where abundance of fat cattle were brought up; to whom persons of distinction, and of the first rank, are here compared. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret them of the wives of the king, princes, ministers of state, and great men; and so it may be thought that Amos, a herdsman, in his rustic manner, compliments the court ladies with this epithet, for their plumpness, wantonness, and petulancy. Though it may be the princes and great men themselves may be rather intended, and be so called for th…
Amos 4:1
1. Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
1. Audite verbum hoc vaccae Basan, qui estis in monte Samariae, quae opprimitis pauperes, quae conteritis egenos, quae dicitis dominis eorum, Affer et bibemus.
He who divided the chapters seems not to have well considered the Prophet's argument: for he pursues here his reproof of the rich, and he had been prophesying against the chief men in the kingdom of Israel. We indeed know how much ferocity there is in the rich, when they become formidable to others by their power. Hence the Prophet here laughs to sco…
The Church Fathers
(Chapter 4, Verse 1 onwards) Hear this word, you fat cows of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, 'Bring us something to drink!' The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you will go out through breaches, each one straight ahead, and you will be cast out into Harmon, declares the Lord. LXX: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan ((Or Bashanites)), who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, and crush the needy, who say to your lords: 'Give us something to drink.' The Lord has sworn by his holiness, behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even those with you in pots, you pestilent merchants, and you will be thrown naked one against another, and cast upon the mountain of Remmon, says the Lord. For the fat cattle, the Seventy interpreted it as Basan's; Aquila and Theodotio interpreted the Hebrew word Basan itself (); we followed the interpretation of Symmachus, who says, 'the well-nourished cows,' that is, fatted cows, we have interpreted as fat cattle. However, he speaks to the leaders of Israel and the best men of the ten tribes, who were occupied with pleasures and rapine, that they may hear the word of God, and know that they are not plowmen's oxen, but fat cattle of the herd, or those nourished in the pastures of Basan, which are the most fertile places for herbs: and by this he signifies that they are prepared not for agriculture, but for sacrifice and eating. You fat cows of Samaria are on the mountain, and you humble ones are crushed. And you say to your lords, that is, to the shepherds through whom we understand the kings, 'Give us, and we will drink,' that is, command and we will destroy everything. But from what he said, 'Give us, and we will drink,' and he did not say, 'Give us, and we will eat,' he signifies their drunkenness in wine and luxury, which overthrow the state of the mind. Therefore, the Lord God swore in His sanctuary, either in Himself, or in the Son, or in the Temple, or in every one who is holy and called the Temple of God, that the day is coming not far off and after many ages, but now imminent, the day of captivity and distress, in which the cows will be led with hooks, and the remains of them in boiling pots, for which it is also…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bashan — Light soil, first mentioned in Gen. 14:5, where it is said that Chedorlaomer and his confederates “smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth,” where Og the king of Bashan had his residence. At the time of…
Heifer — Heb. ‘eglah, (Deut. 21:4, 6; Jer. 46:20). Untrained to the yoke (Hos. 10:11); giving milk (Isa. 7:21); ploughing (Judg. 14:18); treading out grain (Jer. 50:11); unsubdued to the yoke an emblem of…
Jeroboam — Increase of the people. (1.) The son of Nebat (1 Kings 11:26-39), “an Ephrathite,” the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years (B.C. 976-945). He was the son of a widow of…
Bashan · Distinguished for its fine — Distinguished for its fine
Cattle · Bashan suitable to the raising of — Bashan suitable to the raising of
Ox, The · Kine illustrative: Of proud and wealthy rules — Kine illustrative: Of proud and wealthy rules
Poor, The · The wicked: Crush — The wicked: Crush
Samaria, Ancient · Samaria the capital of: Called the mountain of Samaria — Samaria the capital of: Called the mountain of Samaria
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
"Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan, that are upon the mountain of Samaria, that oppress there the humble and crush the poor, that say to their lords, Bring hither, that we may drink. Amo 4:2. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by His holiness: behold, days come upon you, that they drag you away with hooks, and your last one with fish-hooks. Amo 4:3. And ye will go out through breaches in the wall, every one before him, and be cast away to Harmon, is the saying of Jehovah." The commencement of this chapter is closely connected, so far as the contents are concerned, with the chapter immediately preceding. The prophet having there predicted, that when the kingdom was conquered by its enemies, the volu…
In this message Amos holds Samaria’s wives accountable for urging their husbands to perform ruthless acts in order to provide them with money for their parties.
4:1 you fat cows (literally you cows of Bashan): Bashan was famous for its fierce, fat bulls (Ps 22:12; Ezek 39:18). Amos uses the feminine form (cows) to paint a picture of Israel’s upper class wives, who cared little for the poor. Their only concern was to extract enough wealth from the needy to support their own consumption.
Rashi on Amos 4:1
cows of Bashan—This refers to the wives of the princes and the officers. Jonathan renders: wealthy in property.
