Amos 5:4

Seek God and Live

4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live!

Amos 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:4

For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel
Or "yet" {a}, notwithstanding all this, though such judgments were threatened and denounced, and such desolations should certainly come, in case of impenitence, and an obstinate continuance in a course of sin; yet hopes are given of finding mercy and kindness upon repentance and reformation, at least to the remnant of them; see ( Amos 5:15 ) ; seek ye me;
seek my fear, as the Targum; fear and reverence, serve and worship, the Lord God; return unto him by repentance; seek to him by prayer and supplication; acknowledge your sins, and humble yourselves before him, and implore his pardoning grace and mercy: and ye shall live;
in your own land, and not be carried out of it; live comfortably, in great plenty of good things; and live spiritually, enjoying the favour of God, and his presence in his ordinances, and live eternally in the world to come.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (yk) "attamen", Grotius.

Amos 5:4 In-Context

2 She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.
3 For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand [strong] will have [only] a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred [strong] will have [only] ten left in the house of Israel.
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live!
5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh and live, or He will spread like fire [throughout] the house of Joseph; it will consume [everything,] with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
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