Amos 5:20

20 Won't the Day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it?^[a]

Amos 5:20 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:20

[Shall] not the day of the Lord [be] darkness, and not light?
&c.] The design of such a question is strongly to affirm, that, in this day of the Lord spoken of, there should be nothing but misery and distress, and no prosperity and happiness, at least to the wicked Israelites, or the unbelieving Jews: even very dark, and no brightness in it?
signifying that there should be no deliverance, nor the least glimmering view or hope of it; that the calamity should be so very great, and the destruction so entire, that there should be no mixture of mercy, nor the least appearance of relief.

Amos 5:20 In-Context

18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.

20 Won't the Day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts! I can't stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

22 Even if you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept [them]; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.

Footnotes

• [a] Jl 2:2; Zph 1:15