Single lesson
Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel
Amos 5:1–3; Amos 5:4–15; Amos 5:16–27
Amos begins this passage with a lament over Israel. The words sound like mourning, yet they are also a warning from the Lord about collapse, loss and how serious Israel’s situation has become. This lesson also brings together A Call to Repentance, Woe to Rebellious Israel.
Before you teach
In these verses, Amos speaks to the house of Israel and says he is taking up a lamentation over them. The message comes as prophecy and teaching, using mourning language to describe Israel’s fall and the severe reduction that will remain in its cities.
Explain the central teaching of Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel, using two details from the reading. This passage teaches that the Lord’s word over Israel is a grave warning of downfall and heavy loss. This passage teaches that seeking Yahweh is shown in rejecting evil and establishing justice, especially where the vulnerable are being wronged. This passage teaches that Yahweh rejects worship joined to injustice and warns that his judgement is no cause for confident longing.
Welcome: Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel
5 minIntroduce “A Lamentation against Israel”, “A Call to Repentance”, “Woe to Rebellious Israel” and locate Amos 5:1–3; Amos 5:4–15; Amos 5:16–27. This passage teaches that the Lord’s word over Israel is a grave warning of downfall and heavy loss. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Amos 5:1, Amos 5:2, Amos 5:3
Read and explain the passage
12 minA Lamentation against Israel (Amos 5:1–3): Amos says, “Listen to this word”, showing that Israel is being called to hear carefully. He takes up “a lamentation”, which is a mourning song or funeral-like cry. This means the message is not casual. It is a sorrowful announcement over “the house of Israel”.
A Call to Repentance (Amos 5:4–15): The passage opens with a promise and a warning. Yahweh says, “Seek me, and you will live”, then repeats, “Seek Yahweh, and you will live.” Israel must not rely on Bethel, Gilgal or Beersheba. Those places will not save them, and some will come to ruin or captivity.
Woe to Rebellious Israel (Amos 5:16–27): The passage opens with grief in public places: wide ways, streets and vineyards. Farmers and skilled mourners are called to wailing. The reason is serious: Yahweh says, “I will pass through the middle of you”. This is not a joyful gathering but a warning of widespread sorrow.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “A Lamentation against Israel”, “A Call to Repentance”, “Woe to Rebellious Israel”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Amos 5:1, Amos 5:4, Amos 5:5, Amos 5:6, Amos 5:16, Amos 5:17
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “Why does Amos call his message a lamentation over the house of Israel?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage teaches that Yahweh rejects worship joined to injustice and warns that his judgement is no cause for confident longing. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Amos 5:1, Amos 5:2, Amos 5:3, Amos 5:8, Amos 5:9, Amos 5:25, Amos 5:26, Amos 5:27
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “A Lamentation against Israel”, “A Call to Repentance”, “Woe to Rebellious Israel” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Amos 5:1, Amos 5:14, Amos 5:27
Closing: return to Woe to Rebellious Israel
3 minRevisit Amos 5:16–27. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Woe to Rebellious Israel and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Amos 5:16, Amos 5:22, Amos 5:27
Questions to explore
Why does Amos call his message a lamentation over the house of Israel?
Look at the mourning tone of the passage and the words about falling, being cast down and severe loss.
Amos 5:1, Amos 5:2, Amos 5:3
How does Amos 5:8–9 help explain why Israel should seek Yahweh seriously?
Look at what these verses say Yahweh does in creation and in judgement, and how that shows his power over both nature and human strength.
Amos 5:8, Amos 5:9
What does the passage mention just before the exile announcement?
Notice the question about sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness, and especially the images they made for themselves, before the statement about captivity.
Amos 5:25, Amos 5:26, Amos 5:27
Make, think or respond
Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Amos 5:1–3; Amos 5:4–15; Amos 5:16–27. Use “A Lamentation against Israel”, “A Call to Repentance”, “Woe to Rebellious Israel” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Amos 5: A Lamentation against Israel connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “A Lamentation against Israel”, “A Call to Repentance”, “Woe to Rebellious Israel” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Amos 5:1–3; Amos 5:4–15; Amos 5:16–27. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Amos 5:1–3; Amos 5:4–15; Amos 5:16–27. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Amos 5
1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”
3 For the Lord Yahweh says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
4 For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
5 but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.
13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
16 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says Yahweh.
18 “Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
20 Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.
22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.