1 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, house of Israel. 2 The virgin Israel has fallen; she will rise no more; she is forsaken on her land; there is no one to raise her up. 3 For this is what the Lord Yahweh says: “The city that went out with a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that went out with a hundred will have ten left belonging to the house of Israel.” 4 For this is what Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live! 5 Do not seek Bethel; nor enter Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will become nothing. 6 Seek Yahweh and live, or he will break out like fire in the house of Joseph. It will devour, and there will be no one to quench it in Bethel. 7 Those people turn justice into a bitter thing and throw righteousness down to the ground!” 8 God made the Pleiades and Orion; he turns darkness into the morning; he makes the day dark with night and calls for the waters of the sea; he pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh is his name! 9 He brings sudden destruction on the strong so that destruction comes on the fortresses. 10 They hate anyone who corrects them in the city gate, and they abhor anyone who speaks the truth. 11 Because you trample down the poor and take portions of wheat from him— although you have built houses of worked stone, you will not live in them. You have delightful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, take bribes, and turn aside the needy in the city gate. 13 Therefore any prudent person is silent at such a time, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. So Yahweh, the God of hosts, will really be with you, as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good, establish justice in the city gate. Perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says, the God of hosts, the Lord, “Wailing will be in all the squares, and they will say in all the streets, 'Woe! Woe!' They will call the farmers to mourning and the mourners to wail. 17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says Yahweh. 18 Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness and not light, 19 as when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or he goes in a house and puts his hand on the wall and a snake bites him. 20 Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light? Gloom and no brightness? 21 “I hate, I despise your festivals, I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals. 23 Remove from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the sound of your harps. 24 Instead, let justice flow like water, and righteousness like a constantly flowing stream. 25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 26 You have lifted up the images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kaiwan, your star god, which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will exile you beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.
Amos 5 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ezekiel 19:1; Jeremiah 9:17; Jeremiah 7:29; Jeremiah 9:10; Amos 3:1
- 2 Jeremiah 14:17; Hosea 14:1; Isaiah 14:21; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 15:29
- 3 Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 6:13; Ezekiel 12:16; Isaiah 1:9
- 4 Zephaniah 2:3; 2 Chronicles 15:2; Jeremiah 29:12–13; Isaiah 55:3; Psalm 14:2
- 5 Hosea 4:15; Amos 4:4; Amos 8:14; Genesis 21:33; Amos 7:17
- 6 Isaiah 55:6; Ezekiel 20:47–48; Ezekiel 33:11; Zechariah 10:6; Amos 5:14
- 7 Amos 6:12; Zephaniah 1:6; Ezekiel 3:20; Hosea 10:4; Deuteronomy 29:18
- 8 Amos 4:13; Job 9:9; Amos 9:6; Amos 8:9; Psalm 104:20
- 9 Jeremiah 37:10; 2 Kings 13:17; Micah 5:11; 2 Kings 13:25; Hebrews 11:34
- 10 1 Kings 22:8; Isaiah 29:21; John 8:45–47; Jeremiah 17:16–17; Proverbs 9:7–8
- 11 Micah 6:15; Zephaniah 1:13; Deuteronomy 28:30; James 2:6; Haggai 1:6
- 12 Amos 2:6–7; Amos 5:10; Isaiah 1:23; 1 Samuel 8:3; Psalm 26:9–10
- 13 2 Timothy 3:1; Hosea 4:4; Ephesians 5:15–16; Micah 2:3; Ecclesiastes 3:7
- 14 Joshua 1:9; Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:8–9; Micah 6:8; Micah 3:11
- 15 Romans 12:9; 3 John 11; Joel 2:14; Psalm 97:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22
- 16 Joel 1:11; Jeremiah 9:17–20; Jeremiah 9:10; Revelation 18:15–16; Micah 1:8
- 17 Exodus 12:12; Jeremiah 48:33; Isaiah 16:10; Isaiah 32:10–12; Joel 3:17
- 18 Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1–2; Joel 2:31; Jeremiah 30:7; Malachi 4:1
- 19 Isaiah 24:17–18; Jeremiah 15:2–3; Jeremiah 48:43–44; Job 20:24–25; Acts 28:4
- 20 Isaiah 13:10; Zephaniah 1:15; Ezekiel 34:12; Job 10:21–22; Jude 13
- 21 Isaiah 1:11–16; Proverbs 28:9; Leviticus 26:31; Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 6:20
- 22 Micah 6:6–7; Amos 4:4–5; Isaiah 66:3; Leviticus 7:12–15; Psalm 50:23
- 23 Amos 6:5; Amos 8:10; Amos 8:3
- 24 Micah 6:8; Jeremiah 22:3; Proverbs 21:3; Hosea 6:6; Mark 12:32–34
- 25 Acts 7:42–43; Ezekiel 20:8; Nehemiah 9:18; Joshua 24:14; Leviticus 17:7
- 26 Leviticus 20:2–5; 2 Kings 23:12–13; 1 Kings 11:33; Leviticus 18:21
- 27 2 Kings 17:6; Acts 7:43; Amos 4:13; 2 Kings 15:29
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
But God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets: O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to Me sacrifices and oblations for forty years in the wilderness?
I will seek Thee, that my soul may live. For my body liveth by my soul, and my soul liveth by Thee.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
I am moreover restrained by the Prophet's saying, "Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time," a time when some trip up their neighbours' heels, some stamp on a man when he is down, and others clap their hands with joy, but there is not one to feel for the fallen and hold …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
The day of the Lord is darkness and not light." A day of darkness for those who are worthy of darkness.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)