Amos 5:1 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Amos 5:1-3

This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, Hear this word. Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to be again and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord, to give audience, to give attention. Hear this word. this convincing awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against us, as well as that which makes for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 5:1

Hear ye the word which I take up against you ,.... And which was not his own word, but the word of the Lord; and which he took up, by his direction as a heavy burden as some prophecies are called, and this was; and which, though against them, a reproof for their sins, and denunciation of punishment for them, yet was to be heard; for every word of God is pure, and to be hearkened to, whether for us or against us; since the whole is profitable, either for doctrine and instruction in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 5:1

Hear ye this word - Attend to this doleful song which I make for the house of Israel. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 5:1

Verse 1 Some render the verse thus, “Hear ye this word, because upon you, or for you, I raise a lamentation:” but we shall hereafter speak more at large as to the proper rendering. Let us see what the subject is. The Prophet here denounces on the Israelites the punishment they had deserved; and yet they did not think that it was nigh; and they ferociously despised, I have no doubt, the denunciation itself, because no chance had as yet taken place, which might have pointed out such a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 5:1

Hear ye this word. To show the certainty of the judgment and his own feeling about it, the prophet utters his prophecy in the form of a dirge ( kinah, 2 Samuel 1:17 ; 2 Chronicles 35:25 ). Which I take up against you; or, which I raise over you, as if the end had come. O house of Israel; in the vocative. The Vulgate has, Domus Israel cecidit ; so the LXX . But the present Hebrew text is most suitable, making the dirge begin at Amos 5:2 . The ten tribes are addressed as in ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 5:1-3

Israel's elegy. It is poor work singing the things that might have been. It means sweet dreams dispelled, fair hopes blighted, and human lives in ruins. Yet such is the prophet's task in this passage—writing Israel's elegy among the graves of her dead millions. He had been denouncing nameless woes against the rebellious people, Here he changes his tone to that of a mournful spectator of accomplished ills. In imagination he throws himself forward out of the sinful present into the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 5:1

In order to impress Israel the more, Amos begins this his third appeal by a “dirge” over its destruction, mourning over those who were full of joy, and thought themselves safe and enviable. As if a living man, in the midst of his pride and luxury and buoyant recklessness of heart, could see his own funeral procession, and hear, as it were, over himself the “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It would give solemn thoughts, even though he should impatiently put them from him. So must... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 5:1-3

Amos 5:1-3. Hear ye, &c. It is justly observed by Grotius, that this verse would be translated more according to the Hebrew thus; Hear ye this word, even a lamentation, which I take up over you It alludes to the lamentations made at funerals: so here the prophet bemoans the state of the kingdom of Israel as dead. The virgin of Israel Such she was when first espoused to God, a chaste virgin to a husband: she was then peculiarly beloved and delighted in, and was under the peculiar... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Amos 5:1-15

God requires repentance (5:1-15)The prophet again recalls past warnings that the people had consistently ignored. He sees vividly that the result of the people’s stubbornness will be the destruction of Israel. Samaria will be conquered and most of Israel’s army wiped out (5:1-3).What God wants is not an increase in religious ceremonies but a turning in heart and life to him. He does not want processions to religious holy places (which, in any case, will be destroyed) but the administration of... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Amos 5:1

take up = lift up as a burden. lamentation = dirge. house of Israel. See note on Amos 8:1 . read more