For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
- BSB For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and 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 15:2And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
- Zeph 2:3Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.
- Jer 29:12–13Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
- Ps 14:2The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
- Isa 55:3Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
- Matt 7:8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
- Ps 105:3–4Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
- 1 Chr 28:9And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
- Lam 3:25–26The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
- Deut 30:1–8And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
- 2 Chr 20:3And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- Ps 69:32The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
- 2 Chr 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
- Amos 5:6Seek 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.
- Ps 22:26The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
- Ps 27:8When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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