Amos 5:8 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

A Lamentation Over Israel (Amos 5:1-17).

While speaking powerfully Amos had no joy in what was to happen to Israel, and having pronounced judgment on them, he now laments what must necessarily be their end if they do not repent. It demonstrates that underneath his iron words he had a tender heart. That there was opportunity to repent comes out in the continual repetition of the call to ‘seek YHWH' and to ‘seek goodness', and ‘live', which is a theme of the passage (Amos 5:4; Amos 5:6; Amos 5:14). But Amos has little hope of it happening, which is why he pronounces this dual funeral dirge, although combining it with a call to repentance, over them. The passage is in the form of a chiasmus, further emphasising its unity.

a Opening lamentation (1-3).

b A first call to repentance (4-6).

c A first indictment on Israel (Amos 5:7).

d A call to consider YHWH's glory and power (Amos 5:8-9).

c A further indictment on Israel (Amos 5:10-13).

b A further call to repentance (Amos 5:14-15).

a A further lamentation (Amos 5:16-17).

Amos 5:1-17

1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

9 That strengtheneth the spoileda against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasantb vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe,c and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.