Amos 5:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 5:3
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.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֔הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
city
הָעִ֛ירha.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
out
הַיֹּצֵ֥אתhai.yo.Tzet
H3318
to go (causatively · definite article + verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
thousand
אֶ֖לֶף'E.lef
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
leave
תַּשְׁאִ֣ירtash.'Ir
H7604
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
hundred
מֵאָ֑הme.'Ah
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine singular absolute
forth
וְהַיּוֹצֵ֥אתve.hai.yo.Tzet
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + definite article + verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
hundred
מֵאָ֛הme.'Ah
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine singular absolute
leave
תַּשְׁאִ֥ירtash.'Ir
H7604
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
ten
עֲשָׂרָ֖ה'a.sa.Rah
H6235
ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
house
לְבֵ֥יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽלYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
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
Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when the…
Isaiah 10:22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righ…
Ezekiel 12:16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations am…
Romans 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
Deuteronomy 4:27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
Deuteronomy 28:62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LO…
Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Amos 6:9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 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 us; for, whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shall fall to the ground. It is the word which I take up - not the prophet only, but the God that sent him…
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 Amo 4:8.
shall leave . . . hundred--shall have only a hundred left, the rest being destroyed by sword and pestilence (Deu 28:62).
Adam Clarke on Amos 5:3
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.
John Gill on Amos 5:3
For thus saith the Lord God,.... This is a reason why there were none to raise her up: since
the city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred; that is, the city in which there were a thousand constantly going in and out; or which sent, caused to go out, or furnished, a thousand men upon occasion for war, had only a hundred persons left in it; or there remained but a hundred of the thousand they sent out, the rest being destroyed by one means or another:
and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel; where there were a hundred persons going out and coming in continually; or which sent out a hundred men to the army to fight their battles had now o…
The Church Fathers
(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. It says: The city, it says, 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. So that where there was once a multitude, because of excessive desolation, scarcely a tenth part remains. And let us not leave the letters of the sacraments of numbers untouched: the number seven is proven to be holy, even the Sabbath, on which God rested from all his works (Gen. II). And it commands that no servile work be done on it, except only that which pertains to the soul: and that we not bear burdens on it (Num. XV). Hence, even in the wilderness, the one who gathered wood on the Sabbath, which is destined to burn, is condemned by the judgment of the Lord. And seven weeks complete the number of holy Pentecost: and the Jubilee year of remission and the sounding of trumpets is woven with this number. In the seventh month, the tabernacles are also set up, and the Hebrew, after serving for six years, will be set free in the seventh year. This is also known in secular philosophy and in the books of the physicians, of whom Galenus, very eloquent and learned, wrote three books on judgments and critical days, in which he shows the power of the number seven, saying that the most intense fevers are resolved on the seventh day: or if the magnitude of the harmful fluid and phlegm is so great that it is in no way consumed by the heat of the first week, the last day of the second week is awaited, that is, the fourteenth. But if this disease, as Hippocrates says, conquers, they pass to the twenty-first day, that is, to the end of the third week: so from the beginning of the world, the days being numbered, all labors and troubles rest on the seventh number. Finally, the captivity of the people of Israel, the destruction of the temple, was completed in the seventieth year of desolation, and seven planets are said to wander according to the number of days. Tullius gives a more detailed account of the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Amos 5:3
3. 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.
3. Quia sic dicit Dominus Jehova, Urbs e qua egrediebantur mille, manebunt in ea centum; et e qua egrediebantur centum, manebunt (ad verbum, restabunt) decem domui Israel.
The Prophet now expresses more clearly what he had before said, -- that the kingdom would perish and yet so that the Lord would preserve some remnants. Then as to the body of the people, Israel had fallen; but as to a few remnants they were saved; but they were a small numbers such as the Prophet mentions. We hence see that some hope of mer…
The Elegy. - Amo 5:1. "Hear ye this word, which I raise over you; a lamentation, O house of Israel. Amo 5:2. The virgin Israel is fallen; she does not rise up again; cast down upon her soil; no one sets her up. Amo 5:3. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes out by a thousand will retain a hundred, and that which goes out by a hundred will retain ten, for the house of Israel." הדּבר הזּה is still further defined in the relative clause אשׁר וגו as קינה, a mournful song, lit., a lamentation or dirge for one who is dead (cf. Sa2 1:17; Ch2 35:25). אשׁר is a relative pronoun, not a conjunction (for); and qı̄nâh is an explanatory apposition: which I raise or commence as (or "namely")…