Amos 5:1-8

1 Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel:

2 The people of Israel have fallen, never to rise again. They lie abandoned in their own land. There is no one to help them.

3 This is what the Almighty LORD says: The city that sends 1,000 troops off to war will have [only] 100 left. The one that sends 100 troops off to war will have [only] 10 left for the nation of Israel.

4 This is what the LORD says to the nation of Israel: Search for me and live!

5 But don't search [for me] at Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal. Don't travel to Beersheba. Gilgal will certainly go into exile. Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Search for the LORD and live! If you don't, he will spread like a fire through the house of Joseph and burn it down. Bethel will have no one to put it out.

7 You, Israel, turn justice into poison and throw righteousness on the ground.

8 God made the [constellations] Pleiades and Orion. He turns deep darkness into dawn. He turns day into night. He calls for water from the sea to pour it over the face of the earth. His name is the LORD.

Amos 5:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

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.