Amos 5:16

BSB · Public Domain (CC0)

“Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.”

What this verse means

A short, plain-language explanation of Amos 5:16 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.

Compare translations
BSBPD

“Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.”

Berean Standard Bible · Public Domain (CC0)
KJVPD

“Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.”

King James Version · Public Domain
ASVPD

“Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.”

American Standard Version · Public Domain
YLTPD

“Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places <FI>is<Fi> lamentation, And in all out-places they say, `Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.”

Young's Literal Translation · Public Domain
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Cross references

Other passages that echo Amos 5:16 — 19 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  1. Isaiah 15:2Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.
  2. Isaiah 15:8For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab. Their wailing reaches Eglaim; it is heard in Beer-elim.
  3. Isaiah 22:12On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
  4. Jeremiah 4:31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
  5. Jeremiah 9:10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
  6. Jeremiah 9:16I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
  7. Jeremiah 9:17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
  8. Hosea 4:3Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
  9. Joel 1:8Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
  10. Joel 1:11Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
  11. Joel 1:14Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
  12. Amos 3:13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts.
  13. Amos 5:27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.
  14. Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
  15. Micah 1:8Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
  16. Micah 2:4In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed it from me! He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”
  17. Revelation 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
  18. Revelation 18:15The merchants who sold these things and grew their wealth from her will stand at a distance, in fear of her torment. They will weep and mourn,
  19. Revelation 18:19Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been destroyed.”

Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

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