properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
live
וִֽחְי֑וּvich.Yu
H2421
to live · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
out
יִצְלַ֤חyitz.Lach
H6743
to push forward · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fire
כָּאֵשׁ֙ka.'Esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Joseph
יוֹסֵ֔ףyo.Sef
H3130
Joseph · proper noun, a man's name
devour
וְאָכְלָ֥הve.'a.khe.Lah
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
quench
מְכַבֶּ֖הme.kha.Beh
H3518
to expire or (causatively) to extinguish (fire · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular absolute
Beth-el
לְבֵֽיתle.veit-
H1008
Beth-El · preposition + 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 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Ezekiel 20:47-48 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall d…
Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live:…
Genesis 48:8-20 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Amos 5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
Amos 5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
Zechariah 10:6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy u…
Mark 9:43-48 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fi…
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…
break out like fire--bursting through everything in His way. God is "a consuming fire" (Deu 4:24; Isa 10:17; Lam 2:3).
the house of Joseph--the kingdom of Israel, of which the tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, was the chief tribe (compare Eze 37:16).
none to quench it in Beth-el--that is, none in Beth-el to quench it; none of the Beth-el idols on which Israel so depended, able to remove the divine judgments.
Adam Clarke on Amos 5:6
Seek the Lord, and ye shall live - Repeated from Amo 5:4.
In the house of Joseph - The Israelites of the ten tribes, of whom Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were the chief.
John Gill on Amos 5:6
Seek the Lord, and ye shall live,.... This is, repeated to stir up unto it, because of their backwardness and slothfulness, and to show the importance and necessity of it. By the "Lord" may be meant the Messiah, Israel's God that was to come, and they were to prepare to meet, Amos 4:12; and the rather, since life spiritual and eternal is only to be had from him, and he is to be sought unto for it, and all the blessings of it, peace, pardon, righteousness, rest, and salvation as well as temporal deliverance, and all outward mercies:
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it; that is, lest his wrath and fury break out like fire as the Targum, by sending an enemy to inv…
The Church Fathers
Therefore, while there is time, look to the true and eternal salvation, and, since the end of the world is now at hand, out of fear of God turn your minds to God. Let not your powerless and vain dominion in the world over the just and the meek delight you. Remember that in the fields the tares and the darnel have dominion over the cultivated and fruitful corn, and you should not say that evils happen because your gods are not worshiped by us. But you should realize that this is God's anger, this is God's censure, so that he who is not recognized for his blessings may at least be recognized for his judgments. "Seek God, and your soul shall live." Acknowledge God even though it is late. For Christ advises and teaches this, saying, "Now this is everlasting life, that they may know you the only true God and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ." Believe him who by no means deceives. Believe him who has foretold that all these things would come to pass. Believe him who will give the reward of eternal life to those who believe. Believe him who by the fires of Gehenna will inflict eternal punishments on the disbelieving.
(Verse 6.) Seek the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burned with fire, and it devour, and there be none to quench it. LXX: Seek the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be kindled with fire, and it consume it, and there be none to quench the house of Israel. Just as it is said from the person of God, 'Seek me, and you will live,' so the prophet speaks of the Lord, that they should seek him and live. For in seeking the Lord, they begin to live; but if they do not seek him, and therefore do not live, the house of Joseph will immediately be kindled like fire, which we must understand as referring to the ten tribes called Israel, who held the original name for the greater part of the people, because of Jeroboam, who was from the tribe of Ephraim and the house of Joseph. But there were two tribes which were ruled by the lineage of David, who was from the tribe of Judah, called Judah, and they possessed Jerusalem, in which the temple of God was. And when the house of Joseph is set on fire, it will devour and consume Bethel, of which I spoke earlier: Do not seek Bethel, and there will be no one to extinguish it, when it is set on fire by its kings. For in the Septuagint, instead of Bethel, the house of Israel is read, with those interpreting the meaning more than the word, so that, with the reign of Jeroboam and all the subsequent kings who succeeded him in power, the ten tribes, which are called Israel, may burn. This is the fire that is kindled, or shines and inflames the house of Joseph, so that Bethel is consumed, of which it is said elsewhere: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame that you have kindled (Isaiah 50:11). And because we have frequently referred the house of Joseph (because of Jeroboam, who separated the people of God from the lineage of David and made golden calves in Dan and Bethel, and said, there is no part for us in David, neither inheritance in the son of Jesse (1 Samuel 22:36)), to the person of heretics, who, with composed speech, have fashioned beautiful and attractive, and, so to speak, golden images, and worship the works of their own hands, and promise themselves an image under the form of cows for agriculture, it is said to them: Seek the Lord and live, the one who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:16): so that after they have walked in him and found the truth, then those who were…
Dictionary and topics
Joseph — Remover or increaser. (1.) The elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of his birth, said, “God hath taken away [Heb. ‘asaph] my reproach.” “The Lord shall add…
Repentance · Exhortation to — Exhortation 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…
The northern kingdom of Israel (literally the house of Joseph) was dominated by the tribes of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (see study note on 5:15; see Hos 5:3, 5).
Rashi on Amos 5:6
lest He break out like fire Heb. יִצְלַח. Lest His anger ascend as fire to the house of Joseph.
the house of Joseph—Like לְבֵית יוֹסֵף, to the house of Joseph.
