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

14Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. 15Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. 17There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the Lord. 18What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light.

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 5:27So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.
• Amos 3:13“Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,” says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
• Amos 8:10I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning and your singing into weeping. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads to show your sorrow— as if your only son had died. How very bitter that day will be!
• Isaiah 15:2Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn. They will go to their sacred shrines to weep. They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba, shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.
• Isaiah 22:12At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
• Jeremiah 4:31I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor, the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child. It is beautiful Jerusalem gasping for breath and crying out, “Help! I’m being murdered!”
• Jeremiah 9:10I will weep for the mountains and wail for the wilderness pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals have all fled.
• Joel 1:8Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband.
• Micah 1:8Therefore, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl.
• Micah 2:4In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about you: “We are finished, completely ruined! God has confiscated our land, taking it from us. He has given our fields to those who betrayed us.”
• Revelation 18:10They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.”
• Jeremiah 9:17This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals.

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