Bible Strands
Amos 5:6
Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos issues this warning to the northern kingdom of Israel immediately after commanding them to abandon the pilgrimage centers of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba. The message addresses a population relying on traditional worship sites while practicing systemic injustice.
The words — The imperative דִּרְשׁוּ (dirshu) commands "seek," directly linked to וִֽ/חְי֑וּ (vi-chyu) meaning "and live." The particle פֶּן (pen) introduces the conditional threat: "lest" God's action occurs.
The thread — The command to seek Yahweh parallels the appeal in Isaiah 55:6, while the metaphor of unquenchable fire consuming a house mirrors the warning in Ezekiel 20:47. The surrounding context in Amos 5:7 directly connects this urgency to the manipulation of justice and righteousness.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that seeking Yahweh is the necessary condition for survival, while failure to do so guarantees total consumption. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on established religious locations and recognize that divine judgment operates independently of human sanctuary boundaries.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 Beth–el.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Ezekiel 20:47 Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.
- Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
- Genesis 48:8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”
- Amos 5:4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
- Amos 5:14 Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.
- Zechariah 10:6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.
- Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
- Exodus 22:6 If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.
- Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.