What Does Amos 4:5 Mean in the King James?
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The sharpest word is not “sacrifice” but “love”: the ritual they celebrate becomes evidence against them.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes worship that eagerly performs and advertises offerings while remaining in transgression, as the surrounding words make clear. Their enthusiasm reveals that the ritual itself has become what they love, even as God calls them to account.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Religious activity automatically pleases God simply because it is religious.
THE ROOT
נְדָבוֹת
nedavot
GROWS FROM
נדב
n-d-b
To offer willingly; to act voluntarily.
“free offerings” in this verse is nedavot. These offerings come from willingness, and the same root describes someone willing or noble. Amos says the people proclaim these gifts and then names their love of them: the indictment is not that giving is voluntary, but that public devotion coexists with the transgression named around it.
ALSO GROWS
nedavah: A freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
It names a gift brought willingly, the kind of offering Amos says the people publicly proclaim.
nadiv: Willing, generous, or noble.
נָדִיב
The root can describe a person’s willing character, not only an offering.
hitnadev: To volunteer or offer oneself willingly.
הִתְנַדֵּב
This branch shows the root’s reach from a voluntary gift to a person’s own willingness.
תּוֹדָה
todah
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, praise, or give thanks; in some forms, to confess.
Todah grows from a verb of acknowledgment and praise, which can also mean confession. English “thanksgiving” can sound like a feeling, while the Hebrew keeps the act of acknowledgment in view, adding tension to a verse where the offerings are loudly proclaimed.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: To acknowledge, give thanks, praise, or confess.
יָדָה
This verb holds thanksgiving and confession within the same root, bringing acknowledgment into the meaning of the offering.
hodu: Give thanks.
הוֹדוּ
This form shows the root as an expressed act of thanks, not merely an inward sentiment.
הַשְׁמִיעוּ
hashmiu
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear or listen; in causative forms, to make heard.
“publish” in this verse is hashmiu. The people do not only bring offerings; they make them heard. The same root can carry the sense of hearing and responding, so its causative form here sharpens the gap between public announcement and genuine responsiveness.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear, listen, and respond.
שָׁמַע
This is the root behind the idea of hearing that includes a response.
hashmiu: Make heard; announce.
הַשְׁמִיעוּ
This is the form used in the verse: the offerings are called out for others to hear.
THE PATTERN
Offerings do not substitute for responsive obedience and justice, and enthusiasm for ritual can expose a divided life.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.THE THREAD
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:The Hebrew word rendered “thanksgiving” is the same תּוֹדָה (todah, thanksgiving or thank offering) that appears in Amos. Psalm pairs that offering with paying vows, binding public gratitude to follow-through and sharpening Amos’s accusation against ritual loved for its own sake.
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