A funeral song sung over a nation still standing: 'The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise.' Across it runs the offer ('Seek ye me, and ye shall live'), with the shrines excluded: seek not Beth-el, enter not into Gilgal. Seek instead the maker of the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the shadow of death into the morning. They hate reproof in the gate and tax the poor to build houses of hewn stone they will never live in. Their longing for the day of Jehovah is answered bluntly: it is darkness, not light. God despises their feasts and songs: 'but let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream' (5:24).

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Amos — Amos overview

A. 1–3 A lamentation: the virgin of Israel is fallen
B. 4–9 Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel
C. 10–13 They hate the man who reproves in the gate
D. 14–15 Seek good and not evil, that you may live
E. 16–20 Woe to those who long for the day of the LORD
F. 21–27 I hate your feasts — let justice roll down like waters

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Amos 83 verses
- Amos 8:3“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
- Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
- Amos 8:14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never to rise again.”
- Read Amos 8 →
Zephaniah 13 verses
- Zephaniah 1:6and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
- Zephaniah 1:13Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
- Zephaniah 1:15That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
- Read Zephaniah 1 →
Micah 63 verses
- Micah 6:6With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
- Micah 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 6:15You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Read Micah 6 →
Joel 23 verses
- Joel 2:1Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—
- Joel 2:14Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him—grain and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
- Joel 2:31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Read Joel 2 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Jeremiah 92 verses
- Jeremiah 9:10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
- Jeremiah 9:17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Read Jeremiah 9 →
Amos 42 verses
- Amos 4:4“Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
- Amos 4:13For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
- Read Amos 4 →
Hosea 42 verses
- Hosea 4:4But let no man contend; let no man offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
- Hosea 4:15Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Read Hosea 4 →
Ezekiel 202 verses
- Ezekiel 20:8But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.
- Ezekiel 20:47Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.
- Read Ezekiel 20 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.