Amos 5 is the fifth chapter of the Book of Amos in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the ChristianBible. In the Hebrew Bible it is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. The Book of Amos contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Amos, including in this chapter a lamentation for Israel (Amos 5:1–3), an exhortation to repentance (Amos 5:4–20), and God's rejection of their hypocritical service (Amos 5:21–27).
Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel.
Like Amos 3:1, 4:1 and 8:4, the imperative word "Hear" in this verse marks the start of a new section within the book.
Verse 2
The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She will rise no more.
She lies forsaken on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.
The "virgin of Israel", in this and several other translations, uses the appositive genitive form of expression: the virgin is the nation. She is carried off by death before she has experienced married life. The image of a "fallen nation" is reversed in Amos 9:11.
English translations of Amos 5:26 render the Hebrew word סִכּוּת as a direct Romanisation: Sakkuth, Sikkuth, or Siccuth.
There is some ambiguity about whether Sakkuth is a name, a generic word for a deity, or a word referring to a portable shrine.
The King James Version translates Sakkuth as "tabernacle".
It has been suggested that Sakkuth mentioned in verse 5:26, might be the same deity as Mesopotamian Saĝkud. The Masoretic Text vocalizes the name, written in Hebrew as skwt, as sikkût, a hapax legomenon. The conclusion that a deity is meant is not universally accepted, and as an alternative it has been proposed that the correct reading might be a common noun such as sukkat, "hut", or a derivative of the term sikkāntu, "stele".
Verse 5:26 also mentions Moloch in some translations.
Moloch corresponds to "your king" in other English versions.
"But ye have borne": Literally, "And ye bare the tabernacle of your Moloch" (literally, "your king," from where the idolMoloch had its name.) He declares the reason why he denied that they had sacrificed to God in the wilderness. "Did ye offer sacrifices unto Me, and ye bare?" The two were incompatible. Since they did "carry about the tabernacle of their king", they did not really worship God. He whom they chose as "their king" was their god.
"The tabernacle of your Moloch": τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μολόχ (Septuagint); tabernaculum Moloch vestro (Vulgate). The Hebrew word rendered "tabernacle" (sikkuth), which is found nowhere else, has been explained in a variety of ways. Aquila gives συσκιασμούς: Theodotion, "vision," reading the whole sentence thus: Καὶ ἤρατε τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν ὑμῶν ἄστρον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν. Many moderns render this as "stake," "column," or "shrine." Others suppose it to be equivalent to Sakkuth, an Assyrian name for Molech (or Adar), but this is uncertain (see 'Studien und Kritiken.' 1874, p.887). The parallelism requires the word to be an appellative and not a proper name. It most probably means "shrine", a portable shrine, like those spoken of in Acts 19:24 in connection with the worship of Diana. The Syriac and Arabic versions call it a "tent", and thus the reproach stands forth emphatically that, instead of, or in conjunction with, the true tabernacle, they bore aloft, as if proud of their apostasy, the tabernacle of a false god. Such shrines were used by the Egyptians, according to Herodotus (2:63; see Rawlinson's note) and Diod. Sic. (1:97). Many such shrines may be seen in the Egyptian room of the British Museum. Keil quotes Drumann, 'On the Rosetta Inscription', p.211, "These were small chapels, generally gilded and ornamented with flowers and in other ways, intended to hold a small idol when processions were made, and to be carried or driven about with it." Hence, Egypt was likely the source of this idolatry.
The star of your god
"The star of your god": The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary refers to 15th-century rabbi Isaac Karo on this line, saying that astrologers commonly associated Saturn with Israel. The commentary further speculates that there may have been a star on the idol's head representing Saturn, and draws a connection with a star in hieroglyphics representing God.
"Chiun": This is the same as "Chevan",[clarification needed] which in the Arabic and Persic languages is the name of "Saturn", as noted by Aben Ezra and Kimchi.[citation needed] It is so rendered by Montanus.[citation needed]In Egyptian, it was called Revan, Rephan, or Remphan.[citation needed] It is also in the Septuagint, and in Acts 7:43; some read it "Cavan", and take it to signify a "cake". It is this sense of the word that is used in Jeremiah 7:18: "the cake of your images". In Jeremiah, it is supposed that the "cake" had the image of the gods impressed upon it. Antoine Augustin Calmet interprets it as "the pedestal of your images", and others have also translated it this way. The term is applicable to Moloch (Mo) "their king", a king being the basis and foundation of the kingdom and people, and to the sun, often seen as a deity. Some take Mo and Chiun to be distinct deities, the one to be the sun, and the other the moon. However, they seem to be the same, and both to be the Egyptian ox and the calf of the Israelites in the wilderness. These types of image were carried in portable tents or tabernacles, in chests or shrines (such as the Succothbenoth, or tabernacles of Venus (2 Kings 17:30) and those of Diana (Acts 19:24).
Verse 27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,
↑"Amos 5 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre" עָמוֹס. mechon-mamre.org (in English and Hebrew). Israel: Mechon-Mamre (English name: Mamre Institute). Archived from the original on 2002-02-28. כו וּנְשָׂאתֶם, אֵת סִכּוּת מַלְכְּכֶם, וְאֵת, כִּיּוּן צַלְמֵיכֶם--כּוֹכַב, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם, לָכֶם. [26 So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.]{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) The English translation is used in the source.
↑Easton's Bible Dictionary: "King, the name of the national god of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire. He was the consuming and destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire. In Amos 5:26, "your Moloch" of the Authorized Version is "your king" in the Revised Version (Comp. Acts 7:43)." — via Bible Hub.[full citation needed]
↑Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Old Testament. London, Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑"Egypt". The British Museum. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
↑Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
↑John Gill. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746–1763. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
