Amos 4:10

"I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah." Two more disasters are recounted here, (1) pestilence, and (2) military disaster. The New English Bible renders "plagues of Egypt" instead of "pestilence after the manner of Egypt"; but despite this there remains some doubt of what, exactly, is meant. All of the disasters mentioned in these verses were known to the Israelites, either as experiences through which they themselves had passed, or as experiences of their ancestors known by tradition. Amos had no need to explain any of them. Thorogood also believed that Amos has in mind here the plagues of Egypt, and also:

There is some likeness to the terrible series of warnings (@@28:15-57): "All these curses shall come upon you ·.. because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God."[27]

"Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah ..." This dire lament is dramatically repeated five times (Amos 4:6,8,9,10,12), somewhat like a refrain. It has the utility of constant emphasis upon the truth that the disasters were not mere punishments, but solicitations for the chosen people to repent and return to the Lord, the purpose of the Father being benign throughout.