Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Amos 8:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse commands exploitative merchants who swallow needy people and destroy the land's poor to hear.
Read It With
- Amos 8:4-8
Read Amos 8:4 with 8:4-8. This verse commands exploitative merchants who swallow needy people and destroy the land's poor to hear. The complete unit establishes this movement: Merchants treat worship rest as an obstacle to deceptive trade, manipulating quantity, price, scales, debt, and food quality until poor people become purchasable; the LORD swears not to forget.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The indictment explains the economic conduct behind the vision's non-reprieve. Within that movement, this verse commands exploitative merchants who swallow needy people and destroy the land's poor to hear.
What Remains True
Economic practice can consume persons rather than merely exchange goods.
How It Can Shape Life
- Center poor people's experience when reviewing markets.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Amos 8:4-8 — Merchants Trample the Needy and Manipulate the MarketSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 8:4-8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 8:4-8
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1719-1720, translation and notes on 8:4-8
Open source ↗