Amos 8:4

“Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, etc.] Like a man that pants after a draught of water when thirsty; and, when he has got it, greedily swallows it down at one gulp; so these rich men swallowed up the poor, their labours, gains, and profits, and persons too; got all into their own hands, and made them bondsmen and slaves to them; (see <300207>Amos 2:7); these are called upon to hear this dreadful calamity threatened, and to consider what then would become of them and their ill gotten riches; and suggesting, that their oppression of the needy was one cause of this destruction of the land: even to make the poor of the land to fail; or “cease”f217; to die for want of the necessaries of…”

“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" (Isa 5:8).”

“Here ye this, ye that swallow - Or, better in the same sense, “that pant for the needy;” as Job says, “the hireling panteth for the evening” Job 7:2. They “panted for the poor,” as the wild beast for its prey; and “that to make the poor” or (better, as the Hebrew text,) “the meek” , those not poor only, but who, through poverty and affliction, are “poor in spirit” also, “to fail.” The land being divided among all the inhabitants, they, in order “to lay field to field” Isaiah 5:8, had to rid themselves of the poor. They did rid themselves of them by oppression of all sorts. return to 'Top of Page'”

“To fail - Either to root them out, or to enslave them. Amos 8:5”

“8:4-14 This section expands the indictments and judgments listed earlier (read with 2:6–6:14).”

“Hear: Amo 7:16; Kg1 22:19; Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14; Jer 5:21, Jer 28:15 swallow: Amo 2:6, Amo 5:11; Psa 12:5, Psa 14:4, Psa 56:1, Psa 140:12; Pro 30:14; Isa 32:6, Isa 32:7; Mat 23:14; Jam 5:6 Amos 8:5”

“To this vision the prophet attaches the last admonition to the rich and powerful men of the nation, to observe the threatening of the Lord before it is too late, impressing upon them the terrible severity of the judgment. Amo 8:4. "Hear this, ye that gape for the poor, and to destroy the meek of the earth, Amo 8:5. Saying, When is the new moon over, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may open wheat, to make the ephah small, and the shekel great, and to falsify the scale of deceit? Amo 8:6. To buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and the refuse of the corn will we sell." The persons addressed are the השּׁאפים אביון, i.e., not those who snort at the poor…”