Amos 5:3

3 For thus says the Lord God: The city that marched out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which marched out a hundred shall have ten left.

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 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

2 Fallen, no more to rise, is maiden Israel; forsaken on her land, with no one to raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord God: The city that marched out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which marched out a hundred shall have ten left.

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and live;

5 but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb adds [to the house of Israel]