Amos 5:16
in Amos 5Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Amos 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThey shall call the husbandman to mourning - Because the crops have failed, and the ground has been tilled in vain. Such as are skillful of lamentation - See the note on Jer 9:17.
This site's exposition
Wailing shall be in all streets
on Amos 5:16-17
The threefold divine name opening verse 16, the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, is read by the bench as solemn escalation, the fullest title Amos uses anywhere in the book, matched to the fullest grief he announces. Professional mourners, those skilful of lamentation, are called into every street and every vineyard, the very fields that in verse 11 were planted for wine now filled with funeral wailing instead of harvest song. I will pass through thee, saith the Lord, echoes the language of the Exodus judgment on Egypt, the bench naming the deliberate reversal, the God who once passed over his people to spare them now passing through to strike.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 16, 17.) Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the ruler: In all the streets there will be lamentation, and in all the public squares people will say, 'Alas! Alas!' They will summon the farmer to mourning and those skilled in lamentation to lament. And in all the vineyards there will be lamentation, for I will pass through your midst, says the Lord. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord God Almighty: In all the streets there will be lamentation, and in all the roads people will say, 'Alas! Alas!'
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Therefore - The prophet foreseeing their obstinacy, proceeds to denounce judgment against them. The husbandman - This sort of men are little used to such ceremonies of mourning, but now such also shall be called upon; leave your toil, betake yourselves to publick mourning.
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus,....
God's judgments had often passed by them, but now they shall pass through them, shall run them through. A just and severe reproof to those who made light of these threatenings, and impudently bade defiance to the justice of God and his judgments,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord - For the third time in these three last verses Amos again reminds them, by whose authority he speaks, His who had revealed Himself as “I am,” the self-existent God, God by nature and of nature, the Creator and Ruler and Lord of all, visible or invisible, against their false gods, or fictitious substitutes for the true God. Here, over and above those titles, “He is,” that is, He alone is, the “God of Hosts, God of all things, in heaven and earth,” the heavenly bodies from whose influences the idolaters hoped for good, and the unseen evil beings Isa 24:21, who seduced them, he adds the title, which people most shrink from, “Lord.” He who so threatened, was the Same who had absolute power over His creatures, to dispose of them, as He willed. It costs people nothing to own God, as a Creator, the Cause of causes, the Orderer of all things by certain fixed laws. It satisfies certain intellects, so to own Him. What man, a sinner, shrinks from, is that the God is Lord, the absolute disposer and Master of his sinful self. Wailing in all streets - Literally, “broad places,” that is, market-places. “There,” where judgments were held, where were the markets, where consequently had been all the manifold oppressions through injustice in judgments and in dealings, and the wailings of the oppressed; “wailing” should come on them. They shall say in all-the highways - that is, “streets, alas! alas!” our, “woe, woe.” It is the word so often used by our Lord; “woe unto you.” This is no imagery. Truth has a more awful, sterner, reality than any imagery. The terribleness of the prophecy lies in its truth. When war pressed without on the walls of Samaria, and within was famine and pestilence, woe, woe, woe, must have echoed in every street, for in every street was death and fear of worse. […]
The words behind it
23 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָ֠כֵן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| כֹּֽה־ | koh- | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֨ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֤י | ʾelohei | God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| צְבָאוֹת֙ | tzevaot | hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֔י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | [will be] in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| רְחֹב֣וֹת | rechovot | [the] open places | H7339 → | |
| מִסְפֵּ֔ד | misped | wailing | H4553 → | 16 times |
| וּבְכָל־ | uvekhol- | and in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חוּצ֖וֹת | chutzot | [the] streets | H2351 → | |
| יֹאמְר֣וּ | yomeru | people will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הוֹ־ | hov- | alas! | H1930 → | |
| ה֑וֹ | ho | alas! | H1930 → | |
| וְקָרְא֤וּ | vekareu | and people will call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אִכָּר֙ | ʾikar | a farmer | H406 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֵ֔בֶל | ʾevel | mourning | H60 → | 24 times |
| וּמִסְפֵּ֖ד | umisped | and wailing | H4553 → | 16 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| י֥וֹדְעֵי | yodei | [those who] know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| נֶֽהִי׃ | nehi | <of> lamentation | H5092 → |
לָ֠כֵן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
כֹּֽה־thus
koh-H3541 →577 times
אָמַ֨רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֤יGod of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
צְבָאוֹת֙hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
אֲדֹנָ֔י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
בְּכָל־[will be] in all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
רְחֹב֣וֹת[the] open places
rechovotH7339 →
מִסְפֵּ֔דwailing
mispedH4553 →16 times
וּבְכָל־and in all
uvekhol-H3605 →5413 times
חוּצ֖וֹת[the] streets
chutzotH2351 →
יֹאמְר֣וּpeople will say
yomeruH559 →5305 times
הוֹ־alas!
hov-H1930 →
ה֑וֹalas!
hoH1930 →
וְקָרְא֤וּand people will call
vekareuH7121 →733 times
אִכָּר֙a farmer
ʾikarH406 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֵ֔בֶלmourning
ʾevelH60 →24 times
וּמִסְפֵּ֖דand wailing
umispedH4553 →16 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
י֥וֹדְעֵי[those who] know
yodeiH3045 →945 times
נֶֽהִי׃<of> lamentation
nehiH5092 →
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
Revelation 18:19Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her…
it leads to
- Revelation 18:10
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Joshua 7:6
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.
- Ezekiel 27:30
They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.
- Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance…
- Job 2:12
When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.
- Revelation 18:10
Through
Joel 1:11Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:3–4
The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
- Jeremiah 14:3–4
Through
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…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 12:4
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said,…
- Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Jeremiah 12:4
Where this verse is studied
About Amos
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; 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.