Amos 5:21

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

Amos 5:21 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:21

I hate, I despise your feast days
Kimchi thinks this is said, and what follows, with respect to the kingdom of the house of Judah, which kept the feast the Lord commanded; but it is not necessary so to understand it; for doubtless the ten tribes imitated the worship at Jerusalem, and kept the feasts as the Jews did there, in the observance of which they trusted; but the Lord rejects their vain confidence, and lets them know that these were no ways acceptable to him; and were so far from atoning for their sins, that they were hated, abhorred, and despised by him, being observed in such a manner and with such a view as they were; and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies;
a sweet savour of rest, as in ( Genesis 8:21 ) ; take no pleasure in their duties and services performed, in their solemn assemblies convened together for religious purposes, nor accept of them; but, on the contrary, dislike and abhor them; see ( Isaiah 1:11-14 ) .

Amos 5:21 In-Context

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.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.