Amos 5:1-17, Showing Chiastic Structure | Kingdom in Bible

Amos

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Amos

John Hepp, Jr.

Amos 5:1-17, Showing Chiastic Structure
A Description of Certain Judgment	1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: 2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.” 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong for Israel will have only a hundred left; the town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.”
B Call for Individual Repentance	4 This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; 5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” 6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
C Accusation of Legal Injustice	7 You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground
D Portrayal of a Sovereign God	8 (he who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land—the LORD is his name—9 he flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin),
C¹ Accusation of Legal Injustice	10 you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. 11 You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 13 Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
B¹ Call for Individual Repentance	14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
A¹ Description of Certain Judgment	16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. 17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.