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 good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 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 farmer to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing. 17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. 18Woe to you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and 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

• LORDיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• hostsצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · HostsH6635
• Lordאֲדֹנָי'ădônây · LordH136
• saithאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• Wailingמִסְפֵּדmispêd · mourningH4553
• streetsרְחוֹבrechôb rechôb · street/plazaH7339
• highwaysחוּץchûts chûts · outsideH2351
• Alasהוֹhô · Ah!H1930
• callקָרָאqârâ' · to call: call outH7121
• farmerאִכָּר'ikkâr · farmerH406
• mourningאֵ֫בֶל'êbel · mourningH60
• skilfulיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• lamentationנְהִיnehîy · wailingH5092

Cross-references for Amos 5:16

• Amos 5:27Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
• Amos 3:13Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
• Amos 8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.
• Isaiah 15:2He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shorn.
• Isaiah 22:12And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
• Jeremiah 4:31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
• Jeremiah 9:10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them ; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.
• Joel 1:8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
• Micah 1:8Therefore I will wail and weep, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
• Micah 2:4In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a grievous lamentation, and say, We are utterly wasted: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.
• Revelation 18:10Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
• Jeremiah 9:17Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skilful women, that they may 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
• 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