Amos 5:6 (KJV)

Passage

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 Bethel.

Nearby Context

Amos 5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

Amos 5:5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Amos 5:6 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 Bethel.

Amos 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

Amos 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seek", "lord", "shall", "live", "lest", "break", "like", and "fire". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "seek" and "lord", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "But seek not Bethel nor enter into..." into verse 7's "Ye who turn judgment to wormwood and...", so "seek" and "lord" belong inside that flow. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "seek" and "lord" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.