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You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.
Amos 5:26 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
  • KJV But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
  • BSB You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.
  • NKJV You also carried Sikkuth your king And Chiun, your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves.
  • NLT No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Amos charges Israel with carrying idolatrous images and astral deities they made for themselves. Their hidden idolatry exposes the unfaithfulness beneath their outward worship.

Overview

Alongside or beneath their worship of Yahweh, the people embraced pagan star-gods of their own making, breaking the first commandment. The exact identification of these images is debated, but the indictment of idolatry is clear. This persistent idolatry shows humanity's deep need for the deliverance from false gods that Christ alone provides by turning hearts to the living God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Lev 20:2–5“Moreover, you shall tell the children of Israel, ‘Anyone of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech; he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
  • 2 Kgs 23:12–13The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of Yahweh’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
  • 1 Kgs 11:33because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
  • Lev 18:21“‘You shall not give any of your children to sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Amos videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Amos 5:26YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on AmosMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.

How Amos 5:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.