What Does Amos 5:4 Mean?
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek me and live.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:THE KEY
The Hebrew binds seeking the LORD and living in one direct command: the search is already a movement into life.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s words reach you now: seek me, and live. Seeking is an active turning of attention and inquiry toward the LORD, and the verse joins that turning to life as its promise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that seeking the LORD leads nowhere: the verse answers that search with the promise of life.
THE ROOT
דִּרְשׁוּנִי
dirshuni
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or resort to.
“Seek” in this verse is dirshuni. The Hebrew form addresses a group and carries the object “me” inside the verb: this search is directed toward a person, not an idea. The same root grows into words for inquiry and exposition, showing that seeking can be an active turning toward what is to be uncovered.
ALSO GROWS
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
This branch keeps the sense of seeking as sustained inquiry, illuminating the verse as a direct turning toward the LORD.
derishah: Inquiry or demand.
דְּרִישָׁה
This branch shows the root can carry an active request or seeking out; here, the object of that seeking is the LORD himself.
וִחְיוּ
viḥyu
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live, be alive, or come to life.
“live” in this verse is viḥyu. This root names the state of being alive as well as the act of living: chai and chayyim grow from the same seed. The verse joins that aliveness directly to seeking the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Living or alive.
חַי
The shared root shows that the verb “live” belongs to the same word-family as the state of being alive.
chayyim: Life or living.
חַיִּים
This branch names life itself, widening the promise from a verb into the whole condition of living.
THE PATTERN
Across Scripture, seeking God is an active orientation met with finding, response, and life.
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.THE THREAD
Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.Amos 5:14 repeats the same Hebrew roots for “seek” (darash) and “live” (chayah) found here. It gives the seeking a concrete direction, good rather than evil, showing the shape of the movement toward life.
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