Amos 5:0 - Exposition

§ 8. Third address : the prophet utters a lamentation over the fall of Israel . ( Amos 6:1-3 .) He calls her to repentance, while he shows wherein she has declined from the right way. To make this plain, he contrasts God's power and majesty with the people's iniquity, instances of which he gives ( Amos 6:4-12 ). The only condition of safety is amendment ( Amos 6:13 -15); and as they refuse to reform, they shall have cause to lament (verses 16, 17). This threat is enforced by the two emphatic "woes" that follow, the first of which demonstrates the baselessness of their trust in their covenant relation to God (verses 18-27); the second denounces the careless lives of the chiefs, who, revelling in luxury, believed not in the coming judgment ( Amos 6:1-6 ). Therefore they shall go into captivity, and the kingdom shall be utterly overthrown ( Amos 6:7-11 ), because they act iniquitously and are self-confident ( Amos 6:12-14 ).