Amos5
New International Version
1Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
2“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”
3This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel: “Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.”
4This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live;
5do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
7There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name.
9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.
10There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth.
11You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
12For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
14Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.
15Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.
17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.
18Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.
19It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.
20Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
21“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.
22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
25“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god— which you made for yourselves.
27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Amos 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Israel is called to seek the Lord. (1–6). Earnest exhortations to repentance. (7–17). Threatenings respecting idolatries. (18–27).
vv1-6
The convincing, awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; for whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect. The Lord still proclaims mercy to men, but they often expect deliverance from such self-invented forms as make their condemnation sure. While they refuse to come to Christ and to seek mercy in and by him, that they may live, the fire of Divine wrath breaks forth upon them. Men may make an idol of the world, but will find it cannot protect.
vv7-17
The same almighty power can, for repenting sinners, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, and as easily turn the prosperity of daring sinners into utter darkness. Evil times will not bear plain dealing; that is, evil men will not. And these men were evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain even to speak to them. Those who will seek and love that which is good, may help to save the land from ruin. It behoves us to plead God's spiritual promises, to beseech him to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us. The Lord is ever ready to be gracious to the souls that seek him; and then piety and every duty will be attended to. But as for sinful Israel, God's judgments had often passed by them, now they shall pass through them.
vv18-27
Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion; as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God, will be pursued by them; if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them. A pretence of piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found. The people of Israel copied the crimes of their forefathers. The law of worshipping the Lord our God, is, Him only we must serve. Professors thrive so little, because they have little or no communion with God in their duties. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go into captivity among idolaters.
Key Words
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
קִינָה: a dirge (as accompanied by beating the breasts or on instruments)
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
נָפַל: to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
יָסַף: to add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)
Cross References
Amos 5Stephen quotes Amos 5:25-27 in his speech to demonstrate Israel's long-standing history of idolatry.
Supported by JFB
Amos echoes the exact terminology of Job describing God as the Creator of the Pleiades and Orion.
Supported by JFB
Direct thematic and verbal parallel concerning God's sovereign control over the constellations Orion and Pleiades.
Supported by JFB
Parallel contemporary prophetic warning against syncretistic worship at Gilgal and Beth-aven (Bethel).
Supported by Poole, JFB
The curse of building houses and planting vineyards without enjoying them fulfills Moses' covenant sanctions.
Supported by JFB
Striklingly parallel divine rejection of formalistic feast days and sacrifices devoid of justice and righteousness.
Supported by JFB
Internal repetition emphasizing the central exhortation of the chapter: seek the Lord and live.
Supported by Poole
The historical fulfillment of Israel's exile beyond Damascus under Shalmaneser and the Assyrians.
Supported by Poole