Amos 5:15

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Hate the evil, and love the good - (Isaiah 1:16; , "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good").

And establish judgment in the gate - justice in the place where causes are tried.

It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious - so "peradventure" (). Not that men are to come to God with an uncertainty whether or no He will be gracious; the expression merely implies the difficulty in the way, because of the lack of true repentance on man's part, so as to stimulate the zealous earnestness of believers in seeking God (cf. ; ; ).

Unto the remnant of Joseph - (see , "the house of Joseph"). Israel (represented by "Ephraim," the leading tribe, and descendant of Joseph) was, comparatively to what it once was, now but a remnant, Hazael of Syria having smitten all the coasts from Jordan eastward, Gilead and Bashan, Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh () (Henderson.) Rather, 'the remnant of Israel that shall have been left after the wicked have been destroyed' (Maurer).