Amos 5

1 Hear this word that I take up against you in lament, house of Isra'el:

2 The virgin of Isra'el has fallen; she will not rise again. She lies abandoned on her own soil with no one to lift her up.

3 For thus says Adonai ELOHIM: "The city from which a thousand marched will be left with a hundred, and the one from which a hundred marched will be left with ten from the house of Isra'el."

4 For here is what ADONAI says to the house of Isra'el: "If you seek me, you will survive;

5 but don't seek Beit-El, or enter Gilgal or pass on into Be'er-Sheva; for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Beit-El will come to nothing."

6 If you seek ADONAI, you will survive. Otherwise, he will break out against the house of Yosef like fire, devouring Beit-El, with no one to quench the flames.

7 You who turn justice to bitter wormwood and throw righteousness to the ground!

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who brings deathlike shadows over the morning, who darkens the day into night, who calls for the water in the sea and with it floods the earth - ADONAI is his name

9 he flashes destruction on the strong, so that destruction overcomes the fortress.

10 They hate anyone promoting justice at the city gate, they detest anyone who speaks the truth.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and extort from them levies of grain; although you have built houses of cut stone, you will not live in them; and though you have planted pleasant vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

12 For I know how numerous are your crimes and how outrageous your sins - bullying the innocent, extorting ransoms pushing the poor aside at the gate.

13 At times like these a prudent person stays silent, for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, so that you will survive. Then Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will be with you, as you say he is.

15 Hate evil, love good, and uphold justice at the gate. Maybe Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will take pity on the survivors of Yosef.

16 Therefore thus says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, Adonai: "In all public squares there will be lamentation, in all the streets they will cry, 'Oh, no!' They will summon farmers to mourn and professional mourners to wail.

17 There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through among you," says ADONAI.

18 Woe to you who want the Day of ADONAI! Why do you want it, this Day of ADONAI? It is darkness, not light;

19 as if someone were to run from a lion, just to be met by a bear; as if he entered a house, put his hand on the wall, just to be bitten by a snake.

20 Won't the Day of ADONAI be darkness, not light, completely dark, with no brightness at all?

21 "I hate, I utterly loathe your festivals; I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.

22 If you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; nor will I consider the peace offerings of your stall-fed cattle.

23 Spare me the noise of your songs! I don't want to hear the strumming of your lutes!

24 Instead, let justice well up like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the desert forty years, house of Isra'el?

26 No, but now you will bear Sikkut as your king and Kiyun, your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves;

27 as I exile you beyond Dammesek," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot - that is his name.

Amos 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

Israel is called to seek the Lord. (1-6) Earnest exhortations to repentance. (7-17) Threatenings respecting idolatries. (18-27)

Verses 1-6 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.

Verses 7-17 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.

Verses 18-27 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.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 5

In this chapter the prophet exhorts Israel to hear his lamentation over them for their impending ruin, Am 5:1-3; nevertheless to seek the Lord, and all that is good; to forsake their idols, and repent of their sins, in hopes of finding mercy, and living comfortably; or otherwise they must expect the wrath of God for their iniquities, especially their oppression of the poor, Am 5:4-15; otherwise it would be a time of weeping and wailing, of darkness and distress, however they might harden or flatter themselves, or make a jest of it, Am 5:16-20; for all their sacrifices and ceremonial worship would signify nothing, so long as they continued their idolatry with them Am 5:21-26; and therefore should surely go into captivity, Am 5:27.