Amos Chapter 2
Verse 6: “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.” God would not have punished them if they had only transgressed 3 or 4 times, but they were living in perpetual greed and at the expense of the poor.
In fact God named 5 offenses by Israel: 1. selling the poor as slaves, 2. exploiting the poor, 3. engaging in perverse sexual sins, 4. taking illegal collateral for loans, and 5. worshiping false gods. God spoke to the rich that practiced their religious rituals but oppressed the poor.
God used the phophets to remind the people of what He had done for them. And based on that, shouldn’t they want to be faithful and serve him. Evidently not as they would not return to God and they even tried to tempt the Nazarites into drinking wine which was against their vow. They wanted to bring them down to their level of immorality so as to deflect their own guilt.