Amos 5:21

21 "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your 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] as [if] a man fled from a lion and a bear met him; or he went [into] the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a snake bit him.

20 [Is] not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light, and pitch dark with no brightness in it?

21 "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your assemblies.

22 Yes, [even] if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept [them], and I will not look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals.

23 Remove from me the noise of your songs, and I do not want to hear the melody of your harps!