AMOS 5 — SEEK THE LORD, LET JUSTICE FLOW, AND FEAR THE DAY OF THE LORD

He rejects their performance by people who persist in oppression. The forms are not inherently evil; hypocrisy makes their use offensive.

No. The command arises from seeking the LORD and is joined to sacrifice, worship, and covenant relationship. Biblical faith joins love of God with just treatment of neighbor.

The audience assumes election guarantees victory. Amos teaches that the day exposes sin among God's people as well as among nations. For the repentant remnant, God's final purpose still includes salvation.

No. Amos addresses a covenant people under the old administration, where seeking God was the covenant-shaped response to His prior redeeming acts (5:6, 15; cf. Deuteronomy 4:29–31). The New Testament transposes the same movement: “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33); “Come to me... and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28); “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Seeking never purchases life; it locates the Life-Giver. Israel's error was not that she sought too much but that she sought Bethel instead of the LORD, and sought Him with hands full of blood rather than emptied in repentance.

Stephen quotes the Greek Old Testament, whose rendering identifies the obscure idol names differently and says Babylon in light of the exile's outcome. The central meaning—persistent idolatry leading to exile—is the same.