Amos 5:11-21

11 You walk on poor people, forcing them to give you grain. You have built fancy houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them. You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them.

12 I know your many crimes, your terrible sins. You hurt people who do right, you take money to do wrong, and you keep the poor from getting justice in court.

13 In such times the wise person will keep quiet, because it is a bad time.

14 Try to do good, not evil, so that you will live, and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you just as you say he is.

15 Hate evil and love good; be fair in the courts. to the people of Joseph who are left alive.

16 This is what the Lord, the Lord God All-Powerful, says: "People will be crying in all the streets; they will be saying, 'Oh, no!' in the public places. They will call the farmers to come and weep and will pay people to cry out loud for them.

17 People will be crying in all the vineyards, because I will pass among you to punish you," says the Lord.

18 How terrible it will be for you who want the Lord's day of judging to come. Why do you want that day to come? It will bring darkness for you, not light.

19 It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear, or like someone who goes into his house and puts his hand on the wall, and then is bitten by a snake.

20 So the Lord's day of judging will bring darkness, not light; it will be very dark, not light at all.

21 The Lord says, "I completely hate your feasts; I cannot stand your religious meetings.

Amos 5:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 5

In this chapter the prophet exhorts Israel to hear his lamentation over them for their impending ruin, Am 5:1-3; nevertheless to seek the Lord, and all that is good; to forsake their idols, and repent of their sins, in hopes of finding mercy, and living comfortably; or otherwise they must expect the wrath of God for their iniquities, especially their oppression of the poor, Am 5:4-15; otherwise it would be a time of weeping and wailing, of darkness and distress, however they might harden or flatter themselves, or make a jest of it, Am 5:16-20; for all their sacrifices and ceremonial worship would signify nothing, so long as they continued their idolatry with them Am 5:21-26; and therefore should surely go into captivity, Am 5:27.