Bible Strands
Amos 6:5
You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos addresses the wealthy elite of Samaria during a period of national prosperity that masks impending judgment. He confronts them as they recline in luxury and manufacture religious entertainment.
The words — The Hebrew פּוֹרְטִים (po.re.Tim) translates literally as "those who improvise," paired with חָשְׁבּוּ (cha.she.Vu) meaning "they have devised." These verbs describe the deliberate crafting of new musical performances on the lyre (נָבֶל, na.vel).
The thread — This pattern of substituting musical innovation for reverence appears in Isaiah 5:12, where feasts feature lyres and harps while the people disregard the Lord’s actions. Amos previously rejected similar temple music in Amos 5:23 and later declared those songs would turn to wailing in Amos 8:3.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledging that ritual novelty and aesthetic comfort cannot substitute for moral accountability or address national collapse. Readers must confront how cultural or religious self-indulgence obscures the reality of impending judgment.
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
That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 5:12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
- Amos 5:23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
- Amos 8:3 “In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
- Genesis 31:27 Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
- 1 Chronicles 15:16 David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.
- 1 Chronicles 23:5 4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the LORD with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”
- Job 21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
- Ecclesiastes 2:8 and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.
- 1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
- Revelation 18:22 And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.