Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
WhatsApp
Copy
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
WhatsApp
Copy
For 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
WhatsApp
Copy
But 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Seek 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
WhatsApp
Copy
Seek 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:
WhatsApp
Copy
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
WhatsApp
Copy
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
WhatsApp
Copy
Forasmuch 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
For 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
WhatsApp
Copy
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
WhatsApp
Copy
Hate 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Therefore 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
WhatsApp
Copy
Woe 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
As 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
WhatsApp
Copy
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
WhatsApp
Copy
Though 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.
WhatsApp
Copy
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
WhatsApp
Copy
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
WhatsApp
Copy
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
WhatsApp
Copy
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
WhatsApp
Copy
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
WhatsApp
Copy
Amos 5 Study & Commentary
Amos 5 - Seek the Lord and Live: A lamentation for Israel. God tells the people to "seek me, and ye shall live," but warns them that the "Day of the Lord" they desire will be darkness, not light, because of their injustice.
THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
1. Seek Good, Not Evil: Survival is tied to a moral turnaround: "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate" (v. 15).2. The Rejection of Religion: "I hate, I despise your feast days... I will not hear the melody of thy viols" (v. 21-23).
3. The Demand for Justice (v. 24): "But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."
PRACTICAL LESSONS
1. True Seeking: Seeking God is inseparable from seeking justice for our neighbor.2. The Character of Worship: The most "spiritual" worship is a life that practices equity and kindness in the "gate" (the public square).
