The Meaning of Amos 8:4 Explained

Amos 8:4

KJV: Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make 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,

ASV: Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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?

Verse Meaning

Amos called those who oppressed the needy and tried to exterminate them to hear him (cf. Amos 5:11). Israel"s law called God"s people to extend an open hand of generosity to the poor ( Deuteronomy 15:7-11; cf. Psalm 72:12-13), but the stingy Israelites were trying to eliminate them.

Context Summary

Amos 8:1-14 - The Worst Famine Of All
What is more fragile than summer fruit! So beautiful, so refreshing, yet so readily corrupted and diseased. To Amos it was an emblem of the rapidity with which dissolution would overtake his rebellious nation. The end had arrived. The Great Husbandman could do no more. When the harvest has come, separation between good and bad is inevitable. See Isaiah 5:4; Matthew 13:30.
The crimes of the ruling class were enormous. Eager to increase their stores, they wearied of time given to religion. They grudged passing a day without opening their salesrooms. They did not scruple to make their measures (ephah) small, and to demand a greater weight of money (shekel) from their clients. These were crimes that could not be passed over. It is an awful sentence when God says, "I will never forget," Amos 8:7. Invasion would sweep the land like an inundation. Since the people would not heed the God-sent messengers, they would be withdrawn. There would be a famine of the Word of God, and those who had most despised it, because enamored with the fascinations of youth, would be smitten with an insatiable appetite for it. [source]

Chapter Summary: Amos 8

1  By a basket of summer fruit is shown the approach of Israel's end
4  Oppression is reproved
11  A famine of the word of God threatened

What do the individual words in Amos 8:4 mean?

Hear this you who swallow up the needy and make fail - the poor of the land
שִׁמְעוּ־ זֹ֕את הַשֹּׁאֲפִ֖ים אֶבְי֑וֹן וְלַשְׁבִּ֖ית [ענוי־] (עֲנִיֵּי־) אָֽרֶץ

שִׁמְעוּ־  Hear 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
זֹ֕את  this 
Parse: Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
הַשֹּׁאֲפִ֖ים  you  who  swallow  up 
Parse: Article, Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: שָׁאַף 
Sense: to gasp, pant, pant after, long for, breathe heavily.
אֶבְי֑וֹן  the  needy 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: אֶבְיׄון  
Sense: in want, needy, chiefly poor, needy person.
וְלַשְׁבִּ֖ית  and  make  fail 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Verb, Hifil, Infinitive construct
Root: שָׁבַת 
Sense: to cease, desist, rest.
[ענוי־]  - 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural construct
(עֲנִיֵּי־)  the  poor 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural construct
Root: עָנָו 
Sense: poor, humble, afflicted, meek.
אָֽרֶץ  of  the  land 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עָנִי  
Sense: poor, afflicted, humble, wretched.