1Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:

2She has fallen, she will not rise again—
         The virgin Israel.
         She lies neglected on her land;
         There is none to raise her up.

3For thus says the Lord GOD,
         “The city which goes forth a thousand strong
         Will have a hundred left,
         And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
         Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”

      4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,
         “Seek Me that you may live.

5“But do not resort to Bethel
         And do not come to Gilgal,
         Nor cross over to Beersheba;
         For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
         And Bethel will come to trouble.

6“Seek the LORD that you may live,
         Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
         And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

7For those who turn justice into wormwood
         And cast righteousness down to the earth.”

8He who made the Pleiades and Orion
         And changes deep darkness into morning,
         Who also darkens day into night,
         Who calls for the waters of the sea
         And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
         The LORD is His name.

9It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong,
         So that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10They hate him who reproves in the gate,
         And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.

11Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor
         And exact a tribute of grain from them,
         Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone,
         Yet you will not live in them;
         You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.

12For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,
         You who distress the righteous and accept bribes
         And turn aside the poor in the gate.

13Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.

14Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
         And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
         Just as you have said!

15Hate evil, love good,
         And establish justice in the gate!
         Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
         May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

      16Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,
         “There is wailing in all the plazas,
         And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
         They also call the farmer to mourning
         And professional mourners to lamentation.

17“And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
         Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD.

18Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD,
         For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
         It will be darkness and not light;

19As when a man flees from a lion
         And a bear meets him,
         Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
         And a snake bites him.

20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light,
         Even gloom with no brightness in it?

21“I hate, I reject your festivals,
         Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

22“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
         I will not accept them;
         And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

23“Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
         I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

24“But let justice roll down like waters
         And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

      25“Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 26“You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel:

King James Bible
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.

Darby Bible Translation
Hear this word, a lamentation, which I take up against you, O house of Israel.

English Revised Version
Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

World English Bible
Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
Hear this word that I am bearing to you, A lamentation, O house of Israel:

Cross References

Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, And take up a lamentation on the bare heights; For the LORD has rejected and forsaken The generation of His wrath.'

Jeremiah 9:10 "For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

Jeremiah 9:17 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come!

Ezekiel 19:1 "As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not seek any more to idols (v. 4-8); they must seek good, and love it (v. 14, 15). II. Why they must make this preparation to meet their God, 1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in (v. 1-3). 2. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition (v. 7, 10-12). 3. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to be found of them (v. 8, 9, 14). 4. Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if they did not seek him (v. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17). 5. Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek unto God, and make him their friend. (1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance, would not secure them (v. 18-20). (2.) Their external services in religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail to turn away the wrath of God (v. 21-24). (3.) Their having been long in possession of church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous customs (v. 25-27). They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by repentance and reformation.

Verses 1-3

This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, Hear this word. Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to be again and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord, to give audience, to give attention. Hear this word. this convincing awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against us, as well as that which makes for us; for, whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shall fall to the ground. It is the word which I take up-not the prophet only, but the God that sent him. It is the word that the Lord has spoken, ch. 3:1. The word to be heard is a lamentation, a lamentable account of the present calamitous state of the kingdom of Israel, and a lamentable prediction of its utter destruction. Their condition is sad: The virgin of Israel has fallen (v. 2), has come down from what she was; that state, though not pure and chaste as a virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had its charms; she looked high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but she has fallen into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted. Nay, and their condition is helpless: She shall no more rise, shall never recover her former dignity again. God had lately begun to cut Israel short (2 Ki. 10:32), and, because they repented not, it was not long before he cut Israel down. 1. Their princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled: She is forsaken upon her land. Not only those she was in alliance with abroad failed her, but her friends at home deserted her; she would not have been carried captive into a strange land if she had not first been forsaken upon her own land and thrown to the ground there, and all her true interests abandoned by those that should have had them at heart. There is none to raise her up, none that can do it, not that cares to lend her a hand. 2. Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished, v. 3. "The city that had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of the war, had furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed, when they come to review their troops after the battle, shall find but 100 left; and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100 shall have but ten come back, so great a slaughter shall be made, and so few left to the house of Israel for the public service and safety." Scarcely one in ten shall escape of the hands that should relieve this abject, this dejected, nation. Note, The lessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, is just a matter for lamentation; for by whom shall Jacob arise, by whom shall the decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus made small?

Calvin's Commentary

1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

1. Audite verbum hoc quod ego tollo super vos, lamentum domus Israel.

Some render the verse thus, "Hear ye this word, because upon you, or for you, I raise a lamentation:" but we shall hereafter speak more at large as to the proper rendering. Let us see what the subject is. The Prophet here denounces on the Israelites the punishment they had deserved; and yet they did not think that it was nigh; and they ferociously despised, I have no doubt, the denunciation itself, because no chance had as yet taken place, which might have pointed out such a destruction. Hence the Prophet and his threatenings were both despised.

He however threatens them here in severe terms with the judgment of God, which they feared not: and this is the reason why he says, Hear ye. It was not, indeed, without reason that he thus began and intimated that they greatly flattered themselves, nay, that they stopped their ears against wholesome counsels: the admonition would have been otherwise superfluous. The Prophet then indirectly reproves that supine indifference in which the Israelites indulged themselves.

But with regard to the words, some, as I have before mentioned, refer this lamentation to Amos himself, as though he had said, that he lamented the state of the people, finding that they were so stupid, and did not perceive how dreadful the wrath of God is. Since, then, they thus flattered themselves in their sins, those interpreters think that the Prophet here assumes the character of a mourner for that irreclaimable people. Hear, he says, this word even because I lament over you. For the more refractory the people were, the more touched with grief the prophet no doubt was: for he saw how horrible the judgment of God was, which was nigh them, on account of their stubbornness. No wonder then that the Prophet says here, that he undertook or raised lamentation for the people; and this mode of speaking is common in Scripture.

But yet I rather think that another sense is more suitable to this place, which becomes evident by putting in an exegetic particle, Hear ye then this word which I raise upon you, even a lamentation, etc. The word ms', mesha, rendered burden, is derived from the verb ns', nusha, which means to raise up: and there is a striking allusion to the subject treated of here. For the Prophet does not here simply teach the people, nor comfort them, nor does he only warn them, but he denounces on them the last punishment. We hence see the import of the expression, to raise up a word; it was the same as though he said, "I lay on you this prophecy:" for a burden is laid on the shoulders of men when God's wrath is denounced.

It afterwards follows, Even a lamentation, O house of Israel; which means, "I raise upon you a word, which will constrain you to mourn and lament: though now ye are so refractory against God, that ye spurn all warnings, and reject all threatening; yet this word shall at last prove mournful to you." This seems to be the genuine sense of the Prophet: in the first place, he reproves the stupidity of the people of Israel, by demanding a hearing; then he reproves their contempt of God in despising all threatenings; and he shows also that this prophecy would prove mournful to them for having so long trifled with God, "The lament of the house of Israel shall be this word, which I now raise up upon you." it follows --

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'For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye Me, and ye shall live: 5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6. 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. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8. Seek Him that maketh the seven stars …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

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Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

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II K. 18-25; II Chron. 28-36. Note: This period covers the time from the fail of Israel to the fall of Judah. It begins in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah, whose name is given as the first king of the period since most of his reign was in this instead of the former period. The Kings of this Period. 13. Hezekiah, 2 K. 18:1-20-21; 2 Chron. 29:1-32:33. Reigned 29 years and died. 14. Manasseh, 2 K. 21:1-18; 2 Chron. 33:1-20. Reigned 55 year and died. 15. Amon, 2 K. 21:19-26; 2 Chron. 33:20-25. …
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John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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[Sidenote: 1129] 19. (12). Meanwhile[365] it happened that Archbishop Cellach[366] fell sick: he it was who ordained Malachy deacon, presbyter and bishop: and knowing that he was dying he made a sort of testament[367] to the effect that Malachy ought to succeed him,[368] because none seemed worthier to be bishop of the first see. This he gave in charge to those who were present, this he commanded to the absent, this to the two kings of Munster[369] and to the magnates of the land he specially enjoined …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh