Amos 5:4-10

Proof that Israel merits the fate which has just been pronounced against it: it has sought Jehovah by a ritual which He does not value, and it has spurned the virtues which He really prizes.

Seek ye me, and ye shall live The Heb. is more forcible and concise: -Seek ye me, and live": cf. Genesis 42:18 -This do, and live." To seek Godwas a standing expression for consulting Him by a prophet, or an oracle, even on purely secular matters (cf. Genesis 25:22; Exo 18:15; 1 Samuel 9:9; 2Ki 3:11; 2 Kings 8:8; 2Ki 22:13; 2 Kings 22:18; Jeremiah 37:7; Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 20:1; Ezekiel 20:3); but it is also used of seeking or caring for (Jeremiah 30:14) Him more generally, by paying regard to His revealed will, and studying to please Him by the practice of a righteous and holy life, Hosea 10:12; Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 10:21; Zephaniah 1:6; Isaiah 55:6; Isaiah 58:2; Isaiah 65:10; Psalms 9:10; Psalms 24:6; Psalms 34:10; Psalms 78:34, &c. The latter is the sense, which the expression has here. Seek ye me, says the prophet, in Jehovah's name, by the means that I approve, and you will live, i.e. escape the threatened destruction.