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Amos 5

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A Lamentation Over Israel 1–3

1
Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. ​
2
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. ​
3
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel. ​

Seek the LORD, Not the Shrines 4–9

4
For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; ​
5
but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. ​
6
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.
7
Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, ​
8
seek him that maketh the Pleiades 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 (Jehovah is his name); ​
9
that bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.

Condemnation of Injustice 10–15

10
They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. ​
11
Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him 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 the wine thereof. ​
12
For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins—ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.
13
Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time. ​
14
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.
15
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. ​

Widespread Mourning is Coming 16–17

16
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing. ​
17
And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. ​

The Day of the LORD is Darkness 18–20

18
Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. ​
19
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. ​
20
Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

God Rejects Empty Worship 21–27

21
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. ​
22
Yea, though ye offer me your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.
23
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24
But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. ​
25
Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? ​
26
Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. ​
27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Amos 5

Verse 1

a lamentation — Qinah, a dirge sung over the dead. In the prophets the LORD's word itself becomes the dirge (Ezek 19:1). It occurs in Amos only here and in 8:10, 'I will turn… all your songs into lamentation'. The house of Israel is mourned as already fallen, as the next verse shows.

Verse 2

The virgin of Israel is fallen — Bethulah, a maiden, the same title the LORD gives Israel when he promises, 'Again I will build thee… O virgin of Israel' (Jer 31:4). The verb qum is heard twice: 'rise' and 'raise her up'. It returns as the prophet's prayer, 'by whom shall Jacob arise?' (Amos 7:2).

Verse 3

shall leave an hundred — Of each thousand who go out from a city, a hundred are left, and of each hundred, ten: a tenth remains, as in the tenth that stays in the land in Isa 6:13. The remnant is a thread through Scripture: 'though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return' (Isa 10:22).

Verse 4

Seek ye me, and ye shall live — Darash, to seek out and inquire. The command is repeated: 'Seek the LORD, and ye shall live' (v.6) and 'Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live' (v.14). It is the word given to Asa: 'if ye seek him, he will be found of you' (2 Chr 15:2). Seeking Bethel (v.5) is the alternative set against it.

Verse 5

seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal — Hosea names the same shrines, 'come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven' (Hos 4:15); aven, here 'nought', is the word in that name. Galah, 'go into captivity', sounds like Gilgal. Beersheba was where Abraham 'called… on the name of the LORD' (Gen 21:33).

Verse 7

turn judgment to wormwood — La'anah, a bitter plant, the 'root that beareth gall and wormwood' of Deut 29:18. Amos says again, 'ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock' (6:12). The same two words, judgment and righteousness, are set running like a river in v.24.

Verse 8

the seven stars and Orion — Kimah and kesil, named together in Job 9:9 and in the LORD's questions to Job: 'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?' (Job 38:31). Tsalmaveth, 'shadow of death', is the darkness of Ps 23:4. The sea lines are repeated in 9:6; 'The LORD is his name' also closes 4:13.

Verse 10

in the gate — The gate is where cases were heard: 'they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right' (v.12) and 'establish judgment in the gate' (v.15). Yakach, to reprove, is the word of Isa 29:21, 'him that reproveth in the gate'. Ahab spoke the same hatred of Micaiah: 'I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me' (1 Kin 22:8).

Verse 11

your treading is upon the poor — Bashas, to trample down, found only here. 'Burdens of wheat' is masseth, a levy taken from the poor man's grain. The loss of houses and vineyards is the covenant curse of Deut 28:30, 'thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein', repeated in Zeph 1:13 and, for the wine, Mic 6:15.

Verse 13

the prudent shall keep silence — Sakal, to act with insight; the insightful man holds his tongue. It follows v.10, where the one who rebukes in the gate is hated. 'This time is evil' is said again in Mic 2:3, and Paul writes, 'Redeeming the time, because the days are evil' (Eph 5:16).

Verse 15

Hate the evil, and love the good — The same pair as Ps 97:10, 'Ye that love the LORD, hate evil', and Rom 12:9, 'Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good'. 'Establish judgment in the gate' reverses v.12. 'It may be' offers hope without a promise, as in Joel 2:14; 'Joseph' is the northern house (v.6).

Verse 16

skilful of lamentation — The husbandman is called to mourning together with those who know the craft of lament, as with the 'mourning women' and 'cunning women' of Jer 9:17. 'Alas! alas!' is hoh, found only here. Wailing fills the 'streets' and 'highways' (v.16) and then the 'vineyards' (v.17).

Verse 17

I will pass through thee — Abar, the verb of Ex 12:12, 'I will pass through the land of Egypt this night'. Here the LORD passes through his own people's land. He uses it twice more: 'I will not again pass by them any more' (Amos 7:8; 8:2). Wailing in the vineyards is the opposite of the vintage joy of Isa 16:10.

Verse 18

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD — Avah, to long for. The 'day of the LORD' is darkness: 'Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come' (Joel 1:15); Joel 2:2 calls it 'a day of darkness and of gloominess'. Amos repeats the line in v.20.

Verse 19

a lion… and a bear — The pair David named when the LORD 'delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear' (1 Sam 17:37). In Amos no deliverer is named: the man escapes the lion, meets the bear, reaches the house, and the serpent bites. Lam 3:10 has 'a bear lying in wait, and… a lion'.

Verse 21

I hate, I despise your feast days — Chag, the pilgrim feasts, which were the LORD's own appointments; 'I will not smell' is the loss threatened in Lev 26:31, 'I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours'. Isaiah speaks in the same terms: 'Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth' (Isa 1:14).

Verse 24

a mighty stream — Eythan, permanent, ever-flowing; Ps 74:15 uses it of 'mighty rivers'. Justice and righteousness are the two words of v.7, there turned bitter. Micah asks the same of Israel: 'to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God' (Mic 6:8).

Verse 25

in the wilderness forty years — Stephen quotes Amos 5:25–27 against the nation (Acts 7:42–43), placing it beside the calf made 'in those days' (Acts 7:41). 'Sacrifices and offerings' are zebach and minchah, the standing offerings of the law. The question is put to 'the house of Israel', as in v.1.

Verse 26

the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun — Kiyyun, found only here. Stephen quotes the verse as 'the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them' (Acts 7:43). 'Tabernacle' is sukkah, a portable shrine, and 'the star' is kokab; 'images' are tselem, the likenesses they made.

Verse 27

beyond Damascus — Fulfilled when the king of Assyria 'took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria' (2 Kin 17:6); Stephen's form is 'beyond Babylon' (Acts 7:43). 'The God of hosts' is the name already given in 4:13, 'The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name'. The lament that opened at v.1 ends at this sentence.