to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Seek
דִּרְשׁ֖וּנִיdir.Shu.ni
H1875
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
live
וִֽחְיֽוּVich.Yu
H2421
to live · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
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
Zephaniah 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in…
2 Chronicles 15:2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and…
Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Psalms 14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies…
Psalms 105:3-4 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Matthew 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Amos 5:4-15
This is a message from God to the house of Israel, in which,
I. They are told of their faults, that they might see what occasion there was for them to repent and reform, and that, when they were called to return, they might not need to ask, Wherein shall we return?
1. God tells them, in general (Amo 5:12), "I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins; and you shall be made to know them too." In our penitent reflections upon our sins we must consider, as God does in his judicial remarks upon them, and will do in the great day, (1.) That they are very numerous; they are our manifold transgressions, sins of various kinds and often repeated. Oh what a multitude of vain and vile tho…
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; God would forgive, if they would repent (Isa 55:3, Isa 55:6).
Adam Clarke on Amos 5:4
Seek ye me, and ye shall live - Cease your rebellion against me; return to me with all your heart; and though consigned to death, ye shall be rescued and live. Deplorable as your case is, it is not utterly desperate.
John Gill on Amos 5:4
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel,.... Or "yet" (a), notwithstanding all this, though such judgments were threatened and denounced, and such desolations should certainly come, in case of impenitence, and an obstinate continuance in a course of sin; yet hopes are given of finding mercy and kindness upon repentance and reformation, at least to the remnant of them; see Amos 5:15;
seek ye me; seek my fear, as the Targum; fear and reverence, serve and worship, the Lord God; return unto him by repentance; seek to him by prayer and supplication; acknowledge your sins, and humble yourselves before him, and implore his pardoning grace and mercy:
and ye shall live; in your own land, a…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 4, 5.) Because thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: seek me, and you will live, and do not seek Bethel, and do not enter Galgala, and do not pass through Bersabee, because Galgala will be taken captive, and Bethel will be useless. LXX: Because thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: seek me, and you will live, and do not seek Bethel, and do not enter Galgala, and do not pass over the well of the oath, because Galgala will be taken captive, and Bethel will be as if it does not exist. It is the custom (Al. the habit) of the Scriptures always to join joyful things after sad things and after God has threatened with punishment, He calls those whom He has terrified to repentance, according to what we read in Isaiah: Woe, sinful nation, people full of sins, wicked seed, wicked children (Isa. I, 4). And when He has said, your land is desolate, your cities are consumed by fire, foreigners will eat your regions before you (Al. in your sight), He speaks to them promising better things: Be washed, be clean: remove your evils from your minds. Learn to do good (or do good): seek justice, judge the orphan, defend the widow: and come, let us reason together, says the Lord (Isaiah 1:17). Therefore, just as in Isaiah, he sustains those whom he had terrified with his severe voice with gentle speech, so also in this prophet, he says to them: The house of Israel has fallen, it will not be added that it may rise again; the virgin Israel has wandered on the earth, there is no one to raise her up. He does not speak to them and say: The house of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, seek me and you shall live; for in not seeking me, you are dead. And when you seek, you will find; and when you find, you will live. And do not seek Bethel, where the golden calf was, and Galgalam, the place of idolatry, of which I have spoken before: All their wickedness is in Galgal (Hosea 9:15). And you shall not go to Bersabee. In Bersabee, he says, there is a well of oath, you shall not go there: where if ever the tribe of Judah erred, they used to worship idols. But Israel was so inflamed with the worship of idols that he was not satisfied with his own idols, but he went to foreign ones. Finally, he said that Galgata will be led captive, and Bethel will be useless, or completely non-existent, when those idols are overthrown. He completely overlooked Bersabee; because, after the ten…
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
Prayer · The promises of God encourage to — The promises of God encourage to
Repentance · Exhortation to — Exhortation to
Salvation · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Seeking God · Ensures: Life — Ensures: Life
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 5:4-6
4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
4. Quia sic dicit Jehova domui Israel, Querite me, et vivetis.
5. But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
5. Et ne quaeratis Bethel, et in Gilgal ne eatis, et ne transeatis in Berseba; quia Gilgal migrando migrabit, et Bethel erit in nih ilum (vel, in molestiam.)
6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
6. Quaerite Jehovam et vivetis; ne transeat (vel, scindat) quasi ignis domum Josep…
The short, cursory explanation of the reason for the lamentation opened here, is followed in Amo 5:4. by the more elaborate proof, that Israel has deserved to be destroyed, because it has done the very opposite of what God demands of His people. God requires that they should seek Him, and forsake idolatry, in order to live (Amo 5:4-6); but Israel on the contrary, turns right into unrighteousness, without fearing the almighty God and His judgment (Amo 5:7-9). This unrighteousness God must punish (Amo 5:10-12). Amo 5:4. "For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and live. Amo 5:5. And seek not Bethel, and come not to Gilgal, and go not over to Beersheba: for Gilgal repays it w…
Come back to me and live implies a condition: In order to live, Israel should seek the Lord (also in 5:6). Otherwise, the funeral song (5:1-2) would become Israel’s death sentence.
Rashi on Amos 5:4
Seek Me and live—Perform the pilgrimage to pay your vows in Jerusalem.
