Amos 5:16

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

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.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

¹⁸ Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: 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.
WEB: Therefore the LORD, 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.
ASV: 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.
DARBY: Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
BLB: Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Hosts, the Lord: “In all the public squares [will be] wailing, and in all the streets they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they will call the farmer to mourning, and those knowing lamentation to wailing,

ÅB: Derfor sier Herren, Israels Gud, hærskarenes Gud, så: På alle gater skal det høres klagerop, og i alle streder skal de rope: Ve, ve! Bonden skal kalles til sørgehøytid, og til dem som er kyndige i sørgekveder, skal de si: Syng en sørgesang!
OTB: Derfor, dette er hva Herren, Herren Gud Allmektig, sier:
"Det vil være klage i alle gatene
og skrik av angst på hvert torg.
Bøndene vil bli kalt til å sørge,
og de profesjonelle sørgerne til klagesang.
B1930: Derfor sier Herren, Israels Gud, hærskarenes Gud, så: På alle gater skal det høres klagerop, og i alle streder skal de rope: Ve, ve! Bonden skal kalles til sørgehøitid, og til dem som er kyndige i sørgekveder, skal de si: Syng en sørgesang!

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Joel 1:11
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:17–20
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:10
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
Read in context
Revelation 18:15–16
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Read in context
Micah 1:8
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
Read in context
Isaiah 15:2–5
He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
Read in context
Jeremiah 4:31
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
Read in context
Amos 8:10
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
Read in context