Amos 5:1-7

Context

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you,¹ family² of Israel:

5:2 “The virgin³ Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.

She is abandoned on her own land

with no one to help her get up.”⁴

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers⁵ will have only a hundred left;

the town⁶ that marches out with a hundred soldiers⁷ will have only ten left for the family of Israel.”⁸

5:4 The Lord says this to the family⁹ of Israel:

“Seek me¹⁰ so you can live!

5:5 Do not seek Bethel!¹¹

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down¹² to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal¹³ will certainly be carried into exile;¹⁴

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.”¹⁵

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out¹⁶ like fire against Joseph’s¹⁷ family;¹⁸

the fire¹⁹ will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.²⁰

5:7 The Israelites²¹ turn justice into bitterness;²²

they throw what is fair and right²³ to the ground.²⁴

[5:1] ¹tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1] ²tn Heb “house.”

[5:2] ³tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.

[5:2] ⁴tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”

[5:3] ⁵tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3] ⁶tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety-nine percent casualty loss.

[5:3] ⁷tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3] ⁸tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).

[5:4] ⁹tn Heb “house.”

[5:4] ¹⁰sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the Lord. Israel was to abandon the mere formalism and distorted view of God and reality that characterized religious activity at the worship sites, as well as the social injustice that permeated Israelite society. Instead the people were to repent and promote justice in the land. This call to seek the Lord echoes the challenge in 4:13 to prepare to meet him as he truly is.

[5:5] ¹¹sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5] ¹²tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5] ¹³tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5] ¹⁴tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5] ¹⁵tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[5:6] ¹⁶tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6] ¹⁷sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6] ¹⁸tn Heb “house.”

[5:6] ¹⁹tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6] ²⁰tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”

[5:7] ²¹tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation – those with social and economic power.

[5:7] ²²tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.

[5:7] ²³tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”

[5:7] ²⁴sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites, but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, but powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.