Amos 5:6 (LSB)

Passage

Seek Yahweh that you may live, Lest He come mightily like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

Nearby Context

Amos 5:4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, “Seek Me that you may live.

Amos 5:5 But do not seek Bethel, And do not come to Gilgal, Nor cross over to Beersheba; For Gilgal will certainly go into exile, And Bethel will become evil.

Amos 5:6 Seek Yahweh that you may live, Lest He come mightily like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

Amos 5:7 For those who overturn justice into wormwood And put righteousness down to the earth.”

Amos 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion And overturns the shadow of death 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, Yahweh is His name.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "But do not seek Bethel And do..." into verse 7's "For those who overturn justice into wormwood...", so "seek" and "yahweh" 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 "yahweh" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.