Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan - fat and wanton kine, such as the rich pasture of Bashan (east of Jordan, between Hermon and Gilead) was famed for (Deuteronomy 32:14-15; Psalms 22:12, "Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round;" Ezekiel 39:18, "Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty ... all of them fatlings of Bashan"). Batanea in more recent times formed part of Bashan, and is still famed for its pastures and oak forests. Figure for those luxurious nobles mentioned Amos 3:9-10; Amos 3:12; Amos 3:15. The feminine, kine or cows, not bulls, expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the Hebrew being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant.
Which oppress the poor, which crush the needy. The Hebrew participles imply which are continually oppressing, which are crashing the needy.
Which say to their masters - i:e., to their king, with whom the princes indulged in potations, and whom here they importune for more wine (Hosea 7:5, "In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine").
Bring, and let us drink. "Bring" is singular in the Hebrew, implying that one "master" alone is meant.