Amos 5:16

Amos 5:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
• New International Version (NIV)Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: "In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, 'Alas! Alas!' They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this: “There shall be wailing in all streets, And they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning, And skillful lamenters to wailing.

Context of Amos 5:16

14Seek (long for, require) good and not evil, that you may live; And so may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! 15Hate evil and love good, And establish justice in the [court of the city] gate. Perhaps the Lord God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph [that is, those who remain after God’s judgment]. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “There is wailing in all the public plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they call the farmers to mourning [for those who have died] And professional mourners to wailing. 17And in all vineyards there is wailing, For I will pass through your midst [in judgment],” says the Lord. 18Woe (judgment is coming) to you who desire the day of the Lord [expecting rescue from the Gentiles]! Why would you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness (judgment) and not light [and rescue and prosperity];

Amos 5:16 word by word

לָ֠כֵן כֹּֽה־אָמַ֨ר יְהוָ֜ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י צְבָאוֹת֙ אֲדֹנָ֔י בְּכָל־רְחֹב֣וֹת מִסְפֵּ֔ד וּבְכָל־חוּצ֖וֹת יֹאמְר֣וּ הוֹ־ה֑וֹ וְקָרְא֤וּ אִכָּר֙ אֶל־אֵ֔בֶל וּמִסְפֵּ֖ד אֶל־י֥וֹדְעֵי נֶֽהִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Therefore the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• the Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• of hostsצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · HostsH6635
• the Lordאֲדֹנָי'ădônây · LordH136
• saithאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• thus; Wailingמִסְפֵּדmispêd · mourningH4553
• in all streetsרְחוֹבrechôb rechôb · street/plazaH7339
• in all the highwaysחוּץchûts chûts · outsideH2351
• Alasהוֹhô · Ah!H1930
• and they shall callקָרָאqârâ' · to call: call outH7121
• the husbandmanאִכָּר'ikkâr · farmerH406
• to mourningאֵ֫בֶל'êbel · mourningH60
• and such as are skilfulיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• of lamentationנְהִיnehîy · wailingH5092

Cross-references for Amos 5:16

• Amos 5:27Therefore, I will send you to go into exile far beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
• Amos 3:13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord God, the God of hosts,
• Amos 8:10And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourning And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung); And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loins And baldness on every head [shaved for mourning]. And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died], And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.
• Isaiah 15:2They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; Everyone’s head is shaved, and every beard is cut off [in mourning].
• Isaiah 22:12Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].
• Jeremiah 4:31For I heard a cry like a woman in labor, The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, The cry of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem), who gasps for breath, Who stretches out her hands, saying, “Woe is me [my judgment comes]! I faint [in fear] before the murderers.”
• Jeremiah 9:10“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness, Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them]; Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
• Joel 1:8Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].
• Micah 1:8Because of this I [Micah] must lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) and wail, I must go barefoot and naked [without outer garments as if robbed]; I must wail like the jackals And lament [with a loud, mournful cry] like the ostriches.
• Micah 2:4On that day they shall take up a [taunting, deriding] parable against you And wail with a doleful and bitter song of mourning and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! God exchanges the inheritance of my people; How He removes it from me! He divides our fields to the rebellious [our captors].’
• Revelation 18:10standing a long way off, in fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, the strong city, Babylon! In a single hour your judgment has come.’
• Jeremiah 9:17Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider and call for the mourning women to come; Send for the wailing women to come.

Commentaries on Amos 5:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16They shall call the husbandman to mourning - Because the crops have failed, and the ground has been tilled in vain. Such as are skillful of lamentation - See the note on Jeremiah 9:17.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Therefore the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord - For the third time in these three last verses Amos again reminds them, by whose authority he speaks, His who had revealed Himself as “I am,” the self-existent God, God by nature and of nature, the Creator and Ruler and Lord of all, visible or invisible, against their false gods, or fictitious substitutes for the true God. Here, over and above those titles, “He is,” that is, He alone is, the “God of Hosts…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-17Verses 7-17 The same almighty power can, for repenting sinners, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, and as easily turn the prosperity of daring sinners into utter darkness. Evil times will not bear plain dealing; that is, evil men will not. And these men were evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain even to speak to them. Those who will seek and love that which is good, may help to save the land from ruin. It…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The farmer … and the mourners: This expression vividly describes widespread grief. It means that everyone would mourn, from ordinary workers like farmers to people whose job was to mourn at funerals.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. Therefore--resumed from Am 5:13. God foresees they will not obey the exhortation (Am 5:14, 15), but will persevere in the unrighteousness stigmatized (Am 5:7, 10, 12). the Lord--Jehovah. the God of hosts, the Lord--an accumulation of titles, of which His lordship over all things is the climax, to mark that from His judgment there is no appeal. streets ... highways--the broad open spaces and the narrow streets common in the East. call the husbandman to…Read the comment

Topics related to Amos 5:16

• Famine
• Judgments
• Weeping

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Manifold
• Seek
• Burial
• Groan
• Husbandman; Husbandry
• Mourning

Commentaries on Amos 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings