Amos 5:6

Amos 5:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Seek the Lord and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel—

Context of Amos 5:6

4To the people of Israel's family, the Lord says, ‘Come back to me and you will live. 5Do not go to Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba. Do not try to find me there, because I am not there. I will send enemies to destroy those places. They will take the people away as slaves.’ Return to the Lord and you will live. If you do not do that, he will come like fire to punish you. He will completely destroy Joseph's descendants. Bethel and all its people will burn. Nobody will be able to stop the fire. 7You people change what is right and true to make lies. You are not fair or honest. 8The Lord made the groups of stars called Pleiades and Orion. The Lord changes the night into dawn, and he changes the day back to night again. He takes the water in the sea, and he pours it out as rain on the earth. The Lord is his name!

Amos 5:6 word by word

דִּרְשׁ֥וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֖ה וִֽחְי֑וּ פֶּן־יִצְלַ֤ח כָּאֵשׁ֙ בֵּ֣ית יוֹסֵ֔ף וְאָכְלָ֥ה וְאֵין־מְכַבֶּ֖ה לְבֵֽית־אֵֽל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Seekדָּרַשׁdârash · to seekH1875
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• and ye shall liveחָיָהchâyâh · to liveH2421
• lest he break outצָלַחtsâlach tsâlêach · to rushH6743
• like fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784
• in the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: householdH1004
• of Josephיוֹסֵףyôsêph · JosephH3130
• and devourאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• none to quenchכָּבָהkâbâh · to quenchH3518
• in Beth–elבֵּֽיתְ־אֵלbêyth-'êl · BethelH1008

Cross-references for Amos 5:6

• Amos 5:4To the people of Israel's family, the Lord says, ‘Come back to me and you will live.
• Ezekiel 33:11Tell them, “It does not make me happy to punish wicked people with death. I, the Almighty Lord, promise you this, as surely as I live. I want wicked people to stop doing wrong things so that they may continue to live. So stop doing evil things! Israel's people, you do not have to die. Turn back to me!”
• Exodus 22:6Someone might light a fire in his field to burn thorn bushes. But the fire might grow and it might burn the crops in another farmer's field. It may destroy the crops that are growing there or the grain that is ready for harvest. It might even destroy the whole field. Then the person who lit the fire must pay the farmer for the crops that the fire has destroyed.
• Amos 6:6You drink lots of wine. You put beautiful oils on your bodies. But you are not sad that Joseph's descendants are destroying themselves as a nation.
• Genesis 48:8Joseph brought Ephraim and Manasseh to his father, Jacob. Jacob asked him, ‘Who are these boys?’
• Joshua 18:5You must make it into seven parts. Judah's tribe will keep the land in the south. Joseph's two tribes will keep their land in the north. Divide the rest of the land into seven parts.
• Judges 1:22The men of Joseph's tribes attacked Bethel. The Lord helped them to do this.
• 2 Samuel 19:20I am your servant. I know that I did a bad thing. So I have come to meet you today. From all the descendants of Joseph, I am the first person to come to meet you here, my lord the king.’
• 1 Kings 11:28Jeroboam was a strong young man. Solomon saw that he did his work very well. So he made Jeroboam the leader of the workers who belonged to Joseph's tribe.
• Ezekiel 37:19When they ask that, say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Joseph's stick that belongs to Ephraim and the Israelite tribes that are with him. I will cause it to join together with Judah's stick. I will make them become one stick in my hand.”
• Zechariah 10:6I will make Judah's people strong, and I will make Israel's people become free. I will bring them back to me, because I am sorry for them. I am their God, and I will answer them. It will be as if I had never turned away from them.
• Isaiah 1:31Even your most powerful men will disappear. They will be like a piece of string that burns in a fire. Their sins will be the fire that destroys them. They and their sins will burn together, and nobody will put out the fire.
• Jeremiah 4:4Give yourselves to me, the Lord, and agree to serve me faithfully. Remove from your lives everything that is not right, so that you obey my covenant. If you do not do that, I will be very angry with you. I will punish you like a hot fire that destroys things. Nobody will be able to stop my anger. People of Judah and Jerusalem, if you continue to do wicked things, I will certainly punish you.’
• Jeremiah 7:20The Lord God says, ‘Because I am so angry, I will punish this land very much. It will be like a fire that nobody can stop. My punishment will destroy people, animals, trees and crops.’
• Ezekiel 20:47Say to those forests, “Listen to this message from the Lord. This is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I will start a fire to burn you. The fire will destroy all the green trees and all the dry trees. Nobody will be able to stop that fire. From the dry land in the south, all the way to the north, the fire will burn everything.
• Mark 9:43If your hand causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off. You will only have one hand, but you can have God's true life. It will be much worse for you if you keep both your hands and go to hell. There, the fire always burns and never stops.

Commentaries on Amos 5:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6Seek the Lord, and ye shall live - Repeated from Amos 5:4. In the house of Joseph - The Israelites of the ten tribes, of whom Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were the chief.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6Seek ye the Lord and ye shall live - Literally, “seek the Lord and live;” being united to Him, the Fountain of life. He reimpresses on them the one simple need of the creature, “seek God,” the one true God as He revealed Himself, not as worldly people, or the politicians of Jeroboam‘s court, or the calf-priests, fabled of Him. “Seek Him.” For in Him is all; without Him, nothing. Lest He break out like fire in Bethel - Formerly the Spirit of God came…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6The northern kingdom of Israel, also known as the house of Joseph, was mainly controlled by the tribes of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (see study note on Amos 5:15; see Hosea 5:3, 5).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. break out like fire--bursting through everything in His way. God is "a consuming fire" (De 4:24; Is 10:17; La 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.Read the comment

Topics related to Amos 5:6

• Joseph
• Prayer
• Repentance
• Seekers

In the dictionaries

• Joseph
• Manifold
• Seek
• Amos (1)
• Break
• Genesis
• Jeroboam

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