Bible Strands
Amos 7:12
And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Amaziah addresses Amos at Bethel, commanding him to leave the northern sanctuary and return to Judah to earn a living and prophesy elsewhere.
The words — The Hebrew חֹזֶ֕ה (chozeh, “seer”) and the imperative pair לֵ֥ךְ בְּרַח (lekh berach, “go flee”) frame the command as a direct dismissal of prophetic authority and a forced relocation.
The thread — This confrontation parallels later rejections of divine messengers, such as towns begging Jesus to depart (Matthew 8:34) and the historical shift from the term “seer” to prophet (1 Samuel 9:9).
Why it lands — The text records a religious official attempting to neutralize a warning by demanding the messenger relocate, forcing the reader to confront how institutional power routinely tries to contain or silence inconvenient truth.
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
Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
Cross-references
- Matthew 8:34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 Samuel 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, a man on his way to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer.” For the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.)
- Isaiah 30:10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
- Romans 16:18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- 1 Samuel 2:36 And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.
- Isaiah 56:11 Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Ezekiel 13:19 You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.
- Amos 2:12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.