Bible Strands
Amos 4:2
The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos addresses the wealthy women of Samaria who exploit the poor and demand wine from their husbands (Amos 4:1). This declaration sits between the announcement of their public exile through breached city walls (Amos 4:3).
The words — The text centers on נִשְׁבַּע (nishba) meaning "has sworn" and בְּקָדְשׁוֹ (bekadosho) meaning "by His holiness." The passage states Yahweh has sworn by His own holiness before announcing impending days of capture.
The thread — The oath formula parallels Psalm 89:35, while the hook imagery anticipates Jeremiah 16:16 and Habakkuk 1:15. These texts share a pattern of divine judgment executed through enforced removal.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to accept that God’s sworn word guarantees the downfall of the oppressors regardless of social standing. It demands recognition that divine holiness, not personal affinity, grounds judicial action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 16:16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.
- Psalms 89:35 Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness—I will not lie to David—
- Habakkuk 1:15 The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
- Isaiah 37:29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
- Ezekiel 39:4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast.