Amos 5:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 5:16
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.
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
hosts
צְבָאוֹת֙tze.va.'Ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֔י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
saith
אָמַ֨ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Wailing
מִסְפֵּ֔דmis.Ped
H4553
a lamentation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
streets
רְחֹב֣וֹתre.cho.Vot
H7339
a width · noun, common feminine plural absolute
say
יֹאמְר֣וּyo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
highways
חוּצ֖וֹתchu.Tzot
H2351
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Alas
הוֹhov-
H1930
oh! · interjection
alas
ה֑וֹho
H1930
oh! · interjection
call
וְקָרְא֤וּve.ka.re.'U
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
husbandman
אִכָּר֙'i.Kar
H406
a farmer · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mourning
אֵ֔בֶל'E.vel
H60
lamentation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
skilful
י֥וֹדְעֵיYod.'ei
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
lamentation
נֶֽהִיNe.hi
H5092
an elegy · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wailing
וּמִסְפֵּ֖דu.mis.Ped
H4553
a lamentation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joel 1:11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
Jeremiah 9:17-20 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may co…
Jeremiah 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up,…
Isaiah 15:2-5 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be bal…
Isaiah 15:8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.
Isaiah 22:12 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Jeremiah 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter…
Joel 1:8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Amos 5:16-20
Here is, I. A very terrible threatening of destruction approaching, Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17. Since they would not take the right course to obtain the favour of God, God would take an effectual course to make them feel the weight of his displeasure. The threatening is introduced with more than ordinary solemnity, to strike an awe upon them; it is not the word of the prophet only (if so, it might be made light of) but it is the Lord Jehovah, who has an infinite eternal being; it is the God of hosts, who has a boundless irresistible power, and it is Adonai - the Lord, who has an absolute incontestable sovereignty, and a universal dominion; it is he who says it, who can and will make his words good,…
Therefore--resumed from Amo 5:13. God foresees they will not obey the exhortation (Amo 5:14-15), but will persevere in the unrighteousness stigmatized (Amo 5:7, Amo 5:10, Amo 5:12).
the Lord--JEHOVAH.
the God of hosts, the Lord--an accumulation of titles, of which His lordship over all things is the climax, to mark that from His judgment there is no appeal.
streets . . . highways--the broad open spaces and the narrow streets common in the East.
call the husbandman to mourning--The citizens shall call the inexperienced husbandmen to act the part usually performed by professional mourners, as there will not be enough of the latter for the universal mourning which prevails.
such as ar…
They 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.
John Gill on Amos 5:16
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus,.... The connection of these words is not with those that immediately precede, but with the whole context; seeing neither promises nor threats, exhortations, good advice, and intimations of grace and mercy, had no effect, at least upon the generality of the people, therefore the Lord declared as follows:
wailing shall be in all streets; in all the streets of the towns and cities of Israel, because of the slain and wounded in them:
and they shall say in all the highways, alas! alas! in the several roads throughout the country, as travellers pass on, and persons flee from the enemy; they shall lament the state of the kingdom, and cry…
The Church Fathers
(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 farmer will be called to mourning, and those who know lamentation to lament, and in all the streets there will be lamentation: for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord. I have commanded you to seek good, and not evil, so that you may live, and the Lord God of hosts will be with you. And again I say (lest you say you were only warned once): Hate evil, and love good, and restore justice in the gates; those who hated the one who rebuked in the gate, let the Lord have mercy on the rest of Joseph; and because you refused to do so, trampling on my commandments and turning against me, a turning away shoulder: therefore the Lord God Almighty, who is the Lord of hosts, says this: everywhere there is lamentation, everywhere there is mourning. The farmers will be called to mourn, and those who know the customs of the province will be called to incite tears, so that there will be mourning and lamentation not in all the streets, as was said above, but in the vineyards; where once there was material for joy, let it be the origin of tears. And all these things will happen, because I will pass through, says the Lord. The Hebrew word, 'I will pass through', which in their language is called Evor (), whenever it is used in the Holy Scriptures in the person of God, is to be understood as punishment, so that it may not remain among them; but let it pass through and leave. And in other places according to the interpretation of Aquila, when God is angry, He calls His fury and wrath 'ἀνυπερθεσία', which can all be applied to heretics, because they have refused to do both what is right and what is just, so there will be mourning in all their streets. For the wide and spacious road leads to destruction (Matthew 7); and each heretic and gentile has their own streets in their sand and fantasies, to which it is subsequently added: 'Woe, woe' will be said about…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Mourning — One marked feature of Oriental mourning is what may be called its studies publicity and the careful observance of the prescribed ceremonies. (Genesis 23:2; Job 1:20; 2:12)
Agriculture Or Husbandry · Grief occasioned by the failure of the fruits of — Grief occasioned by the failure of the fruits of
Dead, The · Mourning for, often: By hired mourners — Mourning for, often: By hired mourners
Famine · Sent as a — Sent as a
Weeping · On account of tribulation — On account of tribulation
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Amos 5:16
16. 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.
16. Quapropter dicit Jehova Deus exercituum, Dominus, In omnibus compitis lamentum, et in omnibus viis dicent, Vae, vae; et vocabunt agricolam ad luctum, et lamentum erit super omnes peritos luctus.
The particle of inference, set down here, confirms what has been already said, -- that the Israelites vainly flattered themselves, though they were in the worst condition. And as the Prophet knew that there would be no end to their evasions…
This judgment is announced in Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17. Amo 5:16. "Therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the Lord: In all roads lamentation! and in all streets will men say, Alas! alas! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and lamentation to those skilled in lamenting. Amo 5:17. And in all vineyards lamentation, because I go through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah." Lâkhēn (therefore) is not connected with the admonitions in Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15, nor can it point back to the reproaches in Amo 5:7, Amo 5:10-12, since they are too far off: it rather links on to the substance of Amo 5:13, which involves the thought that all admonition to return is fruitless, and the ungodly still persi…
crying . . . mourning . . . wailing: Grief would result from the widespread and certain destruction that lay ahead (5:1-2).
5:16 farmers . . . professional mourners: This expression is a graphic way of describing that everyone would grieve.
Rashi on Amos 5:16
Alas! Alas! Heb. הוֹ הוֹ, an expression of a cry.
and they shall meet the plowman with mourning Heb. וְקָרְאוּ. They shall meet companies of plowmen, plowing in the fields, with the voice of the lamentation of the mourners crying in the streets.
and lamentation with those who know to wail—[Jonathan renders:] And the one who makes a lamentation shall meet one who makes a wailing. And this is only a repetitious expression. Cf. (Ps. 9:5) “My right and my cause (מִשְׁפָּטִי וְדִינִי).”
