Amos 4:5
in Amos 4Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
KJV
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.
⋯
This verse in Amos 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 4 and following) Come to Bethel, and act wickedly: to Gilgal, and multiply transgression, and bring your morning sacrifices, your tithes for three days. And offer praise with leaven (Vulgate: with fermented dough), and call for voluntary offerings, and proclaim. For thus you have desired, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. Therefore, I have given you the stench of decay in all your cities and the lack of bread in all your places; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. You entered Bethel and acted wickedly in Gilgal, multiplying your impious acts.
This site's exposition
Come to Beth–el, and transgress
on Amos 4:4-5
The invitation is irony dressed as liturgy: come to Bethel and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgression, bring sacrifices and tithes as if devotion at the wrong altar could please the Lord who set up neither. Beth-el and Gilgal were the kingdom's own shrines, rivals to Jerusalem since Jeroboam's calves, and the mock summons names worship performed with real enthusiasm and no obedience. Leaven forbidden in Leviticus 2:11 offered here as thanksgiving, and free offerings publicly proclaimed, are read by the bench as religion loved for its show, for this liketh you closing the verse on the worshippers' own taste rather than God's command.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
They had also mixed this leaven of sin into their good action, to whom the Lord spoke through the voice of the prophet in rebuke: "Come to Bethel and act impiously." And after a few words: "And sacrifice praise from what is leavened." For he offers praise from what is leavened who prepares a sacrifice to God from robbery.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
To aggravate their incorrigibleness, and to justify himself in inflicting greater judgments, he recounts the less judgments with which he had tried to bring them to repentance. (1.) There had sometimes been a scarcity of provisions, though there was no visible cause of it (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
With leaven - As all the rest of your will-worship, so this also is against the express law, Lev. ii, 11. However, do so at your peril, try whether it will end in good. Proclaim - Publickly persuaded your people to voluntary sacrifices.
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,.... Which some observe was contrary to the law, which forbids all leaven in a meat offering; or "burning" it in any offering, Lev 2:11; which the word (t) here used suggests was done by these idolaters, as well as eaten by them, their priests not liking to eat unleavened bread; but; though it was forbidden in the meat offering, was allowed, yea, ordered, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, Lev 7:
All the sins of Israel are aggravated from their incorrigibleness in them, and their refusal to return and reform, notwithstanding the various rebukes of Providence which they had been under,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven - But amid this boastful service, all was self-will. In little or great, the calf-worship at Bethel, or the use of leaven in the sacrifice, they did as they willed. The prophet seems to have joined purposely the fundamental change, by which Jeroboam substituted the worship of nature for its God, and a minute alteration of the ritual, to show that one and the same temper, self-will, reigned in all, dictated all they did.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Though unleavened cakes were to accompany the peace offering sacrifice of animals, leavened bread was also commanded (Le 7:12, 13), but not as a "meat offering" (Le 2:11). this liketh you--that is, this is what ye like.
Over a sacrifice of thanksgiving - To the senseless metal, and the unfeeling stock and stone images, from which ye never did, and never could receive any help. Proceed yet farther, and bring free-will offerings; testify superabundant gratitude to your wooden and metallic gods, to whom ye are under such immense imaginary obligations! Proclaim and publish these offerings, and set forth the perfections of the objects of your worship; and see what they can do for you, when I, Jehovah, shall send drought, and blasting, and famine, and pestilence, and the sword among you.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְקַטֵּ֤ר | vekater | and make smoke | H6999 → | |
| מֵֽחָמֵץ֙ | mechametz | from a thing leavened | H2557 → | |
| תּוֹדָ֔ה | todah | a thank-offering | H8426 → | |
| וְקִרְא֥וּ | vekiru | and proclaim | H7121 → | 733 times |
| נְדָב֖וֹת | nedavot | freewill offerings | H5071 → | |
| הַשְׁמִ֑יעוּ | hashmiu | make [them] heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֵ֤ן | khen | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אֲהַבְתֶּם֙ | ʾahavtem | you love | H157 → | |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | O people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| נְאֻ֖ם | neum | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֥י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
וְקַטֵּ֤רand make smoke
vekaterH6999 →
מֵֽחָמֵץ֙from a thing leavened
mechametzH2557 →
תּוֹדָ֔הa thank-offering
todahH8426 →
וְקִרְא֥וּand proclaim
vekiruH7121 →733 times
נְדָב֖וֹתfreewill offerings
nedavotH5071 →
הַשְׁמִ֑יעוּmake [them] heard
hashmiuH8085 →1159 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֵ֤ןthus
khenH3651 →771 times
אֲהַבְתֶּם֙you love
ʾahavtemH157 →
בְּנֵ֣יO people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
נְאֻ֖ם[the] utterance of
neumH5002 →376 times
אֲדֹנָ֥י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 23:23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced…
it leads to
- Luke 11:42
Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
- Micah 6:8
He 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?
- Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- Matthew 5:19–20
So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be…
- Luke 11:42
Through
Psalms 81:12So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Romans 1:24
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
- Jeremiah 7:24
Through
Matthew 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you,…
it leads to
- Matthew 6:5
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they…
- Matthew 6:5
About Amos
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.