Amos 5
Lutheran reading notes
In Amos chapter 5, the prophetic message develops the theme of justice, righteousness, and warning to Israel. Lutheran interpretation often highlights the contrast between divine judgment against sin and the promise of grace that God provides for those who trust in Him.
1
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, {even} a lamentation, O house of Israel.
Amos 5:1 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:2 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:3 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
4
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
Amos 5:4 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:5 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:6 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
7
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
Amos 5:7 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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:
Amos 5:8 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
9
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. {spoiled: Heb. spoil}
Amos 5:9 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
10
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Amos 5:10 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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 pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. {pleasant...: Heb. vineyards of desire}
Amos 5:11 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
12
For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate {from their right}. {a bribe: or, a ransom}
Amos 5:12 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
13
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it {is} an evil time.
Amos 5:13 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:14 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:15 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
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.
Amos 5:16 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
17
And in all vineyards {shall be} wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
Amos 5:17 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
18
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end {is} it for you? the day of the LORD {is} darkness, and not light.
Amos 5:18 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
19
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Amos 5:19 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
20
{Shall} not the day of the LORD {be} darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Amos 5:20 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
21
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. {in...: or, your holy days}
Amos 5:21 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
22
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept {them}: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. {peace...: or, thank offerings}
Amos 5:22 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
23
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Amos 5:23 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
24
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. {run: Heb. roll}
Amos 5:24 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
25
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Amos 5:25 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
26
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. {the tabernacle...: or, Siccuth your king}
Amos 5:26 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name {is} The God of hosts.
Amos 5:27 highlights prophetic call to repentance and hope with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.