Amos 5:14-15, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 5:14-15
Seek Good and Establish Justice in the Gate
Seeking the LORD takes social form: seek and love good, hate evil, and establish justice at the gate; even then hope for Joseph's remnant is expressed as 'it may be,' not a controllable guarantee.
Why this sits here
The appeal answers each gate failure with concrete moral direction while preserving divine freedom and uncertainty about the remnant.
What helps us understand it
Later material that clarifies it
Amos 9:7-10Qualified hope for Joseph's remnant anticipates the later distinction between sinful kingdom judgment and Jacob's preservation.
Amos 5:15 is the reviewed hinge that connects this unit with Amos 9:7-10.
How the passage moves
Seek good rather than evil so that life follows.
Divine presence is corrected from assumption to accountable hope.
Perhaps the LORD will be gracious to Joseph's remnant.
What the author is communicating
A needed correction
Reading Amos 5:14-15 inside Amos's complete judgment-restoration movement rules out these uses:
Establishing justice does not earn grace, guarantee survival, or create a prosperity formula.
Hating evil does not authorize hatred, harassment, or violence toward people labeled evil.
The remnant of Joseph does not identify a modern race, denomination, party, or conspiracy-aware group.
What remains true
Real hope joins moral and institutional repair to humility about outcomes.
How this should shape us
How should this shape us today?
Change unjust procedures because good is right, not as a bargain for guaranteed success.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 5:14-15 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Movement 1
Seek good rather than evil so that life follows.
Movement 2
Divine presence is corrected from assumption to accountable hope.
Movement 3
Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the gate.
Movement 4
Perhaps the LORD will be gracious to Joseph's remnant.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Israel, Judah, empire, land, and the limits of reconstruction
Gate reform is practical legal and economic change, not merely private virtue. The remnant language arises within threatened northern Israel.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material alternatives
KJV 'it may be' preserves the Hebrew particle of possibility. 'Remnant of Joseph' refers to survivors of the northern people in this context, not a secret modern elect.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Amos among Israel's Scriptures
Seeking good, hating evil, and fair adjudication echo covenant instruction while refusing mechanical claims on grace.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical connections
The qualified hope prepares the complex sifting and restoration of 9:7-15 without canceling judgment.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The relation between human reform and divine grace and the rhetorical force of 'perhaps' are framed differently across traditions; the imperative and non-guarantee are both explicit.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The LORD of hosts calls for life-giving good and just gates while remaining free in grace.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit contributes to Amos's movement from judgment through contested hope to covenant mercy: Seeking the LORD takes social form: seek and love good, hate evil, and establish justice at the gate; even then hope for Joseph's remnant is expressed as 'it may be,' not a controllable guarantee.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
Establishing justice does not earn grace, guarantee survival, or create a prosperity formula.
A vivid line can feel easier to reuse than the whole oracle's historical target and literary movement.
The route toward life is concrete justice and moral turning, offered with hope but without leverage over God.
Real hope joins moral and institutional repair to humility about outcomes.
Establishing justice does not earn grace, guarantee survival, or create a prosperity formula.
Hating evil does not authorize hatred, harassment, or violence toward people labeled evil.
A strong prophetic claim can be detached from the LORD's role and the text's protection of harmed people.
The route toward life is concrete justice and moral turning, offered with hope but without leverage over God.
Real hope joins moral and institutional repair to humility about outcomes.
Hating evil does not authorize hatred, harassment, or violence toward people labeled evil.
The remnant of Joseph does not identify a modern race, denomination, party, or conspiracy-aware group.
Readers may prefer a modern slogan where the passage preserves textual, historical, or ethical limits.
The route toward life is concrete justice and moral turning, offered with hope but without leverage over God.
Real hope joins moral and institutional repair to humility about outcomes.
The remnant of Joseph does not identify a modern race, denomination, party, or conspiracy-aware group.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 5:14-15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 5:14-15
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1713-1716, translation and notes on 5:14-15
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 585-587, discussion of 5:14-15
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 5:14-15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 5:14-15
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1713-1716, translation and notes on 5:14-15
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 585-587, discussion of 5:14-15
Open source ↗