These Amos 5 Bible study questions are for small groups, Sunday school classes and personal reading. Amos 5 is a lament and a warning to Israel: God calls his people to seek him and live, to stop trusting in religious rituals while they ignore justice, and to let righteousness flow like a river. The questions below move from what the chapter says, to what it means, to how a believer should live it.
Amos 5 at a Glance
The chapter opens with a funeral song over Israel, a nation that has fallen and cannot rise on its own. The prophet then repeats the same urgent invitation: seek the Lord and live, not the shrines of Bethel and Gilgal, which will be destroyed. He names the sins behind the collapse, including the oppression of the poor, bribery in the courts and silencing of honest witnesses.
From there Amos describes a coming day of the Lord that the people expected to be a day of triumph, but which will be darkness for them. God rejects their festivals and sacrifices while justice is absent, and closes with the call for justice to roll on like rivers, followed by a reminder of exile beyond Damascus.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an opinion. Ask the group to point to the text and read the relevant verses aloud before answering, so that everyone is working from what is actually written.
Amos 5:4-6
4 For the LORD 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 the LORD, 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.
(WEB)
This is the heart of the chapter’s invitation. Read it slowly so the group hears the repeated call to seek the Lord and live, and the warning against trusting in the old shrines.
Amos 5:7
You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth…
(WEB)
A short, sharp verse that names the core problem. Reading it aloud helps the group see that the sin is in how justice and righteousness are treated.
Amos 5:11-12
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 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.
(WEB)
These verses lay out the specific injustices and their consequences. Reading them together shows how closely the sin of the powerful is tied to the suffering of the poor.
Amos 5:21-24
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.
(WEB)
The clearest statement of God’s rejection of empty worship and his longing for justice. Read it with pauses so the group can absorb the contrast between festivals and rivers of righteousness.
Amos 5:14-15
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, 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 the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
(WEB)
A call to seek good and hate evil, with the hope that the Lord may be gracious. End the reading here to leave room for the hope the chapter also holds.
Memory Verse for Amos 5
Amos 5:24
But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
(WEB)
This verse captures the chapter’s central desire in a single image. Memorizing it gives the group a short phrase to recall when they are tempted to separate worship from justice in their daily lives.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you as people who have heard hard words in this chapter. We confess that we too are tempted to trust in familiar routines while our neighbors are overlooked, and to speak comfortably about faith while avoiding costly truth. Forgive us where our worship has been empty and our hearts far from your justice. Teach us to seek you, to hate what is evil and love what is good, and to let righteousness flow in our homes, our churches and our communities. Give us courage to speak honestly and mercy to act faithfully, so that your justice may roll on like rivers through our lives. Amen.
