Amos 5 · Verse 25

Amos 5:25

Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Amos 5:25, King James Version

Amos 5:25 in other translations

BSBDid you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
WEB“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
ASVDid ye bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
YLTSacrifices and offering did ye bring nigh to Me, In a wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
DARBYDid ye bring unto me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
BBEDid you come to me with offerings of beasts and meal offerings in the waste land for forty years, O Israel?
WebsterHave ye offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

What does Amos 5:25 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Amos 5:25-26
25-26. Have ye offered? &c.--Yes: ye have. "But (all the time with strange inconsistency) ye have borne (aloft in solemn pomp) the tabernacle (that is, the portable shrine, or model tabernacle: small enough not to be detected by Moses; compare Ac 19:24) of your Molech" (that idol is "your" god; I am not, though ye go through the form of presenting offerings to Me). The question, "Have ye," is not a denial (for they did offer in the wilderness to Jehovah sacrifices of the cattle which they took with them in their nomad life there, Ex 24:4; Nu 7:1-89; 9:1, &c.), but a strong affirmation (compare 1Sa 2:27, 28; Jr 31:20; Eze 20:4). The sin of Israel in Amos' time is the very sin of their forefathers, mocking God with worship, while at the same time worshipping idols (compare Eze 20:39). It was clandestine in Moses' time, else he would have put it down; he was aware generally of their unfaithfulness, though not knowing the particulars (De 31:21, 27). Molech ... Chiun--"Molech" means "king" answering to Mars [Bengel]; the Sun [Jablonski]; Saturn, the same as "Chiun" [Maurer]. The Septuagint translates "Chiun" into Remphan, as Stephen quotes it (Ac 7:42, 43). The same god often had different names. Molech is the Ammonite name; Chiun, the Arabic and Persian name, written also Chevan. In an Arabic lexicon Chiun means "austere"; so astrologers represented Saturn as a planet baleful in his influence. Hence the Phoenicians offered human sacrifices to him, children especially; so idolatrous Israel also. Rimmon was the Syrian name (2Ki 5:18); pronounced as Remvan, or "Remphan," just as Chiun was also Chevan. Molech had the form of a king; Chevan, or Chiun, of a star [Grotius]. Remphan was the Egyptian name for Saturn: hence the Septuagint translator of Amos gave the Egyptian name for the Hebrew, being an Egyptian. [Hodius II, De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus. 4.115]. The same as the Nile, of which the Egyptians made the star Saturn the representative [Harenberg]. Bengel considers Remphan or Rephan akin to Teraphim and Remphis, the name of a king of Egypt. The Hebrews became infected with Sabeanism, the oldest form of idolatry, the worship of the Saba or starry hosts, in their stay in the Arabian desert, where Job notices its prevalence (Job 31:26); in opposition, in Am 5:27, Jehovah declares Himself "the God of hosts." the star of your god--R. Isaac Caro says all the astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel. Probably there was a figure of a star on the head of the image of the idol, to represent the planet Saturn; hence "images" correspond to "star" in the parallel clause. A star in hieroglyphics represents God (Nu 24:17). "Images" are either a Hebraism for "image," or refer to the many images made to represent Chiun.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices - Some have been led to think that "during the forty years which the Israelites spent in the wilderness, between Egypt and the promised land, they did not offer any sacrifices, as in their circumstances it was impossible; they offered none because they had none." But such people must have forgotten that when the covenant was made at Sinai, there were burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of oxen sacrificed to the Lord, Exo 24:5; and at the setting up of the tabernacle the twelve princes of the twelve tribes offered each a young bullock, a ram, and a lamb, for a burnt-offering; a kid for a sin-offering; two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs, for a peace-offering, Num 7:12, etc.; which amounted to an immense number of victims offered in the course of the twelve days during which this feast of the dedication lasted. At the consecration of priests, bullocks and rams to a considerable number were offered, see Lev 8:1, etc.; but they were not offered so regularly, nor in such abundance, as they were after the settlement in the promised land. Learned men, therefore, have considered this verse as speaking thus: Did ye offer to me, during forty years in the wilderness, sacrifices in such a way as was pleasing to me? Ye did not; for your hearts were divided, and ye were generally in a spirit of insurrection or murmuring.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Amos 5:18-27

Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion; as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. Those who are not…

Read the full comment on Amos 5:18-27 →

Amos 5:25 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַזְּבָחִ֨יםha.ze.va.Chim¿ sacrificesH2077
וּמִנְחָ֜הu.min.Chahand grain offering[s]H4503
הִֽגַּשְׁתֶּם\־hi.gash.tem-did you bring nearH5066
לִ֧יlito me
בַמִּדְבָּ֛רva.mid.Barin the wildernessH4057
אַרְבָּעִ֥ים'ar.ba.'ImfortyH705
שָׁנָ֖הsha.Nahyear[s]H8141
בֵּ֥יתbeitO house ofH1004
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל\׃Yis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Amos 5:25

  • Acts 7:42-43

    Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

  • Ezekiel 20:8

    But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

  • Nehemiah 9:18

    Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

  • Joshua 24:14

    Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

  • Leviticus 17:7

    And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

  • Ezekiel 20:16

    Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

  • Nehemiah 9:21

    Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

  • Deuteronomy 32:17-19

    They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

  • Ezekiel 20:24

    Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

  • Hosea 9:9-10

    They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal–peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

  • Zechariah 7:5

    Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

  • Isaiah 43:23-24

    Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Le 17:7; De 32:17-19; Jos 24:14; Ne 9:18,21; Isa 43:23,24
Eze 20:8,16,24; Ho 9:9,10; Zec 7:5; Ac 7:42,43

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Amos 5:24

    But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

  • Amos 5:25

    Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

  • Amos 5:26

    But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

Read all of Amos 5

Amos 5:25 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
¿Habéisme ofrecido sacrificios y presentes en el desierto en cuarenta años, casa de Israel?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
M’avez-vous offert des sacrifices et des offrandes dans le désert, pendant 40 ans, maison d’Israël?
German
Elberfelder 1871
Habt ihr mir vierzig Jahre in der Wüste Schlachtopfer und Speisopfer dargebracht, Haus Israel?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Numquid hostias et sacrificium obtulistis mihi in deserto quadraginta annis, domus Israël?