Amos 5

Amos · Chapter 5

Amos 5:6

1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.3For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.4For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:5But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.6Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:9That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.16Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.18Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.19As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
6Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Where

Locations from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Some ancient sites are uncertain.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
seekדִּרְשׁ֥וּdir-SHUH1875
to seek

דָּרַשׁ (da.rash) 1) to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to resort to, frequent (a place), (tread a place) 1a2) to consult, enquire of, seek 1a2a) of God 1a2b) of heathen gods, necromancers 1a3) to seek deity in prayer and worship 1a3a) God 1a3b) heathen deities 1a4) to seek (with a demand), demand, require 1a5) to investigate, enquire 1a6) to ask for, require, demand 1a7) to practice, study, follow, seek with application 1a8) to seek with care, care for 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to allow oneself to be enquired of, consulted (only of God) 1b2) to be sought, be sought out …

Yahwehיְהוָ֖הYAH-wehH3068G
Lord

אֲדֹנָי (a.do.nai) Lord - a title, spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence Another name of ye.ho.vah (יהוה "LORD" H3068G)

and liveוִֽחְי֑וּvich-YUH2421
to live

חֲיָא (cha.ya) 1) to live 1a) (P'al) to live 1b) (Aphel) to let live, keep alive

lestפֶּן־pen-H6435
lest

פֶּן־ (pen) conj 1) lest, not, beware lest adv 2) lest

he should rushיִצְלַ֤חyitz-LACHH6743A
to rush

צָלַח (tsa.lach) (Qal) to rush

like the fireכָּאֵשׁ֙ka-'ESHH0784
fire

אֵשׁ (esh) 1) fire 1a) fire, flames 1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany) 1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching) 1d) altar-fire 1e) God's anger (fig.) Aramaic equivalent: esh (אֶשָּׁא "fire" H0785)

[the] house ofבֵּ֣יתbeitH1004MNo entry
Josephיוֹסֵ֔ףyo-SEFH3130G
Joseph

יְהוֹסֵף (ye.ho.seph) A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.30.24; son of: Israel (H3478) and Rachel (H7354); brother of: Benjamin (H1144); half-brother of: Reuben (H7205), Simeon (H8095), Levi (H3878), Judah (H3063), Dan (H1835H), Naphtali (H5321), Gad (H1410), Asher (H0836), Issachar (H3485), Zebulun (H2074) and Dinah (H1783); married to Asenath (H0621); father of: Manasseh (H4519) and Ephraim (H0669); also called Zaphenath-paneah at Gen.41.45; Another name of yo.seph (יוֹסֵף "Joseph" H3130G) § Joseph = "Jehovah has added" the eldest son of Jacob by Rachel

and it will consumeוְאָכְלָ֥הve-'a-khe-LAHH0398
to eat

אָכַל (a.khal) 1) to eat, devour, burn up, feed 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to eat (human subject) 1a2) to eat, devour (of beasts and birds) 1a3) to devour, consume (of fire) 1a4) to devour, slay (of sword) 1a5) to devour, consume, destroy (inanimate subjects - ie, pestilence, drought) 1a6) to devour (of oppression) 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be eaten (by men) 1b2) to be devoured, consumed (of fire) 1b3) to be wasted, destroyed (of flesh) 1c) (Pual) 1c1) to cause to eat, feed with 1c2) to cause to devour 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to feed 1d2) to cause to eat 1e) (Piel) 1e1) consume Aramaic equivalent: a.khal (אֲכַל "to devour" H0399)

and notוְאֵין־ve-'ein-H0369
nothing

אַ֫יִן (a.yin) 1) nothing, not, nought n 1a) nothing, nought neg 1b) not 1c) to have not (of possession) adv 1d) without w/prep 1e) for lack of

[one who] extinguishes [it]מְכַבֶּ֖הme-kha-BEHH3518
to quench

כָּבָה (ka.vah) 1) to quench, put out, be put out, be quenched, be extinguished 1a) (Qal) to be quenched, be extinguished 1b) (Piel) to quench, extinguish

[will belong] to Beth-לְבֵֽית־le-veit-H1008G
Aven

אָ֫וֶן (a.ven) Aven = "vanity" a name used contemptuously a place of idolatrous worship Bethel with its calf worship (Ho 10:8) Another name of bet-el (בֵּֽיתְ־אֵל "Bethel" H1008G)

-elאֵֽל׃'ElH1008G
Aven

אָ֫וֶן (a.ven) Aven = "vanity" a name used contemptuously a place of idolatrous worship Bethel with its calf worship (Ho 10:8) Another name of bet-el (בֵּֽיתְ־אֵל "Bethel" H1008G)

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.