Amos 5:3
in Amos 5This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong will only see a hundred return, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have but ten left in the house of Israel.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Amos 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The city that went out by a thousand - (that is, probably that sent out a thousand fighting men, as the word “went out” is often used for, “went out” to fight,) “shall have” literally, “shall retain, an hundred.” She was to be decimated. Only, the tenth alone was to be reserved alive; the nine-tenths were to be destroyed. And this, alike in larger places and in the small. The city “that went forth an hundred shall retain ten.” Smaller places escape for their obscurity, the larger from their strength and situation. One common doom was to befall all.
This site's exposition
a lamentation, O house of Israel
on Amos 5:1-3
Amos takes up a lamentation over a nation not yet dead, the funeral dirge sung before the funeral, the virgin of Israel fallen and none to raise her up. The bench reads virgin as a title of unbroken standing now shattered rather than any comment on conduct, the same title the prophets give Zion and Babylon alike when a people's confidence is stripped away. The arithmetic of verse 3, a thousand marching out and a hundred returning, ten out of a hundred, is read as the ordinary shrinkage of an army broken in the field, one defeat cutting the nation down by nine parts in ten.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 3) Because thus says the Lord God: The city from which a thousand went out shall be left with a hundred, and the city from which a hundred went out shall be left with ten in the house of Israel. Similarly in the Septuagint. The divine word gives the reasons why the fallen house of Israel shall not rise again, and why the wandering or cast-down virgin of Israel shall not have a saviour.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For thus saith the Lord God,....
Note, The lessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, is just a matter for lamentation; for by whom shall Jacob arise, by whom shall the decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus made small? The Aggravated Sins of Israel;
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
went out by a thousand--that is, "the city from which there used to go out a thousand" equipped for war. "City" is put for "the inhabitants of the city," as in Am 4:8. shall leave . . . hundred--shall have only a hundred left, the rest being destroyed by sword and pestilence (De 28:62).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The city that went out by a thousand - The city that could easily have furnished, on any emergency, a thousand fighting men, can now produce scarcely one hundred - one in ten of the former number; and now of the hundred scarcely ten remain: so reduced was Israel when Shalmaneser besieged and took Samaria, and carried the residue into captivity.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹ֤ה | khoh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַר֙ | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| הָעִ֛יר | hair | the city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| הַיֹּצֵ֥את | haiyotzet | which goes out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אֶ֖לֶף | ʾelef | a thousand | H505 → | |
| תַּשְׁאִ֣יר | tashir | it will have left | H7604 → | |
| מֵאָ֑ה | meah | a hundred | H3967 → | |
| וְהַיּוֹצֵ֥את | vehaiyotzet | and which goes out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מֵאָ֛ה | meah | a hundred | H3967 → | |
| תַּשְׁאִ֥יר | tashir | it will have left | H7604 → | |
| עֲשָׂרָ֖ה | ʾasarah | ten | H6235 → | |
| לְבֵ֥ית | leveit | of [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ס | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֹ֤הthus
khohH3541 →577 times
אָמַר֙he says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
הָעִ֛ירthe city
hairH5892 →1090 times
הַיֹּצֵ֥אתwhich goes out
haiyotzetH3318 →1067 times
אֶ֖לֶףa thousand
ʾelefH505 →
תַּשְׁאִ֣ירit will have left
tashirH7604 →
מֵאָ֑הa hundred
meahH3967 →
וְהַיּוֹצֵ֥אתand which goes out
vehaiyotzetH3318 →1067 times
מֵאָ֛הa hundred
meahH3967 →
תַּשְׁאִ֥ירit will have left
tashirH7604 →
עֲשָׂרָ֖הten
ʾasarahH6235 →
לְבֵ֥יתof [the] house of
leveitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ סIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 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
Romans 9:27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
it leads to
- Romans 11:4–6
And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 10:20–23
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy…
- Isaiah 1:9
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 11:4–6
Through
Isaiah 6:13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
it leads to
- Romans 11:5–6
In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 14:7–9
For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.
- Romans 11:5–6
Through
Isaiah 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
it leads to
- Romans 9:29
It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
- Isaiah 37:31–32
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
- Romans 9:29
Through
Isaiah 10:22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
it leads to
- Romans 9:27–28
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- Romans 9:27–28
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; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.