Go to Bethel…

Amos [4:4–5] exposes the hidden darkness of these seemingly good activities and good people. Because the sacrifices and offerings have been acquired through violence and injustice, they sin and blaspheme God by thanking him with that which comes at the expense of God’s justice. Thus, the more they offer these sacrifices and offerings, the more they sin, and the more they indict themselves. With poetic flourish, Amos exposes the false exterior of the people’s thankful state and judges them for their true nature of injustice, false pretense, and delusion.—Kevin Chau, in Devotions on the Hebrew Bible, 89-90