Amos 5:4-6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 For thus says the Lord[a]
to the house of Israel:
Seek me, that you may live,(A)
5 but do not seek Bethel;
Do not come to Gilgal,
and do not cross over to Beer-sheba;
For Gilgal shall be led into exile
and Bethel shall be no more.
6 [b]Seek the Lord, that you may live,
lest he flare up against the house of Joseph[c] like a fire
that shall consume the house of Israel, with no one to quench it.
Footnotes
- 5:4–5 For thus says the Lord…Bethel shall be no more: these two verses continue the sarcasm of 4:4–5, verses in which Amos invites the people to come and “sin” at Bethel and Gilgal. The cult cities of Samaria should have been places where God could be “sought” but, because of the sins of the Northern Kingdom, these cities would cease to exist.
- 5:6 These verses have been rearranged to achieve the proper sequence according to the best possible manuscript tradition. Cf. the Textual Notes accompanying the translation.
- 5:6 House of Joseph: the kingdom of Israel or Northern Kingdom, the chief tribes of which were descended from Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph; cf. 5:15; 6:6.
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