Amos 8:4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

Hear this. The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.

O ye that swallow up the needy - or, gape after, i:e., pant for their goods, as the wild beast pants for his prey. So the word is used, "earnestly desireth," , margin, 'gapeth after.'

Even to make the poor of the land to fail. So those "that lay field to field until there be no place, that they (themselves) may he placed alone in the midst of the earth" (). The Hebrew text (Kethibh) better reads 'the meek' for "the poor" (the Qeri' reading) - i:e., those not poor only, but who, through poverty and affliction, are poor in spirit also.