John Trapp on Amos 8:4

Verſe 4. Hear this, ye that ſwallow up the needy,] that ſoop them up, as drink, (our word ſoop, ſeems to come of the Hebrew Shaaph) that would make but a breakfaſt, nay but a bit of them: that would ſwallow them at once down their wide gullets, and do, for that purpoſe, pant and even faint, as well-nigh windleſſe, after them, to devour them. Hence they are called, Man-eaters, Cannibals, Pſal. 14.4. See chap. 2.7. with the Note.

even to make the poor of the land to fail.] Heb. the meek of the land. Poverty ſhould meeken and tame mens ſpirits: howbeit ſome are humbled, but not humble: low, but not lowly. Thoſe that are both, are oft oppreſſed by the Great Ones of the earth: and even devoured, as the leſſer fiſh are by the bigger. Ye have condemned and killed the juſt, ſaith St. Iames to the wicked rich men of his time, and he doth not reſiſt you, chap. 5.6. He onely committeth his cauſe to him that judgeth righteouſly, 1 Pet. 2.23. and indeed he need do no more then ſo: for God is the poor-mans king, as James the fifth of Scotland was termed for his charity: yea, he is the worlds refuge, Awlen Penaugh, as the great Turk vaingloriouſly ſtileth himſelf, and would have the world to take notice, that ſuch poor people as lament to him, ſhall be relieved by him, although his miniſters fail them, or abuſe them, through their injuſtice, to make the poor of the land fail. For the oppreſſion of the poor, for the ſighing of the needy, now will I ariſe, ſaith the Lord. I will ſet him in ſafety from him that puffeth at him, Pſal. 12.5. Neither doth God ſay it onely, (though that were ſufficient) but ſwear it too in this chapter, yea in this text (the two next following verſes are put in as by a parentheſis) and theſe Cormorants are called upon to hear it, and not to paſſe it by with a deaf ear, tanquam monſtra marina, as ſuch kind of creatures uſe to do.