Amos 5:3

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.

Amos 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:3

For thus saith the Lord God
This is a reason why there were none to raise her up: since the city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred;
that is, the city in which there were a thousand constantly going in and out; or which sent, caused to go out, or furnished, a thousand men upon occasion for war, had only a hundred persons left in it; or there remained but a hundred of the thousand they sent out, the rest being destroyed by one means or another: and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house
of Israel;
where there were a hundred persons going out and coming in continually; or which sent out a hundred men to the army to fight their battles had now only ten remaining; to such a small number were they reduced all over the land, so that there were none, or not a number sufficient to raise up Israel to its former state and glory.

Amos 5:3 In-Context

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.