For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
- KJV For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
- NKJV For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live;
- NASB For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me so that you may live.
- NLT Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!
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
In the midst of judgment God pleads, 'Seek me, and you will live.' Genuine repentance and turning to God is the way to life.
Overview
Amid pronouncements of doom comes a gracious gospel-like invitation: to seek the Lord himself is to find life. This 'seeking' means turning from false worship to true devotion and obedience. Even now God offers mercy to those who return to him. This anticipates the call of the gospel, in which seeking God through Christ brings eternal life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 2 Chr 15:2So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
- Zeph 2:3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
- Jer 29:12–13Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Ps 14:2The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.
- Isa 55:3Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
- Matt 7:8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Ps 105:3–4Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
- 1 Chr 28:9As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
- Lam 3:25–26The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- Deut 30:1–8“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,
- 2 Chr 20:3Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
- Ps 69:32The humble will see and rejoice. You who seek God, let your hearts be revived!
- 2 Chr 34:3In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images.
- Amos 5:6Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
- Ps 22:26The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!
- Ps 27:8My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O LORD, I will seek.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 5:4 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.