Fishhook

The UPDV uses fishhook language in ordinary fishing imagery (Habakkuk 1:15; Isaiah 19:8), Leviathan imagery (Job 41:1), and judgment imagery. This page highlights Amos, where the image is not ordinary fishing but capture — a metaphor for the deportation of Samaria's wealthy women.

Hooks for the Kine of Bashan

Amos addresses the well-fed women of Samaria as "kine of Bashan" who oppress the poor and command their husbands to bring drink (Amos 4:1). Yahweh's oath against them turns their soft pasture into a hauling-yard: "The Sovereign Yahweh has sworn by his holiness, that, look, the days will come upon you⁺, that they will take you⁺ away with hooks, and your⁺ remainder with fishhooks" (Amos 4:2). The pairing of "hooks" and "fishhooks" is the language of dragging fish from a pond — applied to deportation. The oracle ends with a forced exit through the breached walls and a march "toward Harmon" (Amos 4:3). The fishhook stands for the violent, undignified mechanics by which the women are pulled out of Samaria into exile.