Amos 5:4
For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
BSB
ASV
For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;
KJV
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
Seek ye me, and ye shall live--literally, "Seek . . . Me, and live." The second imperative expresses the certainty of "life" (escape from judgment) resulting from obedience to the precept in the first imperative. If they perish, it is their own fault;
A mirrored structure
Amos 5:14Amos 5:1-17 chiasm outer imperative pair: 'Seek me and live' mirrors 'Seek good, not evil, that you may live': carries the oracle's ethical demand.
Jan de Waard, 'The Chiastic Structure of Amos V 1-17,' Vetus Testamentum 27 (1977): 170-177
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
2 Chronicles 15:2So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him,…
leads to
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments…
But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.
As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought.…
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
Through
Zephaniah 2:3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
leads to
Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.
Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed.
Through
Isaiah 55:3Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
leads to
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away…
