Text: Amos 4:4
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 14:28
Subject: taunt of sacrifice every morning and tithe every three days
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Contrast
Significance: Amos 4:4 sarcastically commands Israel to "bring your tithes every three days," a biting distortion of Deuteronomy 14:28's instruction to bring tithes (מַעְשַׂר, ma'aser) every three years for the Levite, sojourner, orphan, and widow. Amos compresses the triennial cycle into three days to mock Israel's zealous religiosity -- they multiply cultic acts while ignoring the social justice purposes the tithe system was designed to serve. The irony exposes a worship that is quantitatively excessive but qualitatively empty, divorcing ritual observance from its covenantal intent of caring for the marginalized.
Consolidated 2026-06-09 per the later-text → earlier-text canonical-direction ruling (Full Corpus Audit, Phase 0). The content below is preserved verbatim from the deleted file "Deuteronomy 14.28 to Amos 4.4"; fold unique material into the Significance during the Phase 3 IP audit, then remove this section.
Text: Deuteronomy 14:28
OT Text Referred to: Amos 4:4
Subject: ritual satire
Source: Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament (2021); Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Contrast
Significance: Deuteronomy 14:28 prescribes that "at the end of every three years" Israel must set aside a tenth of produce for the Levite, foreigner, fatherless, and widow. Amos 4:4 sarcastically inverts this command: "Bring your tithes every three days!" (לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים, lishlosheth yamim), mocking Israel's ostentatious religiosity at Bethel and Gilgal. Amos's satirical compression of the three-year tithe cycle into three days exposes the absurdity of Israel's worship—they exceeded the letter of the law in ritual frequency while violating its spirit through social injustice. The prophet subverts the Deuteronomic tithe regulation to show that multiplied religious observance without covenant obedience constitutes sin, not piety.