Amos 5:13-27

13 Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as ye have said,

15 We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore ye judgment in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.

17 And lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

18 Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this gloom without brightness?

21 I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell meat-offerings in your general assemblies.

22 Wherefore if ye should bring me your whole-burnt-sacrifices and meat-offerings, I will not accept : neither will I have respect to your grand peace-offerings.

23 Remove from me the sound of thy songs, and I will not hear the music of thine instruments.

24 But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.

25 Have ye offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?

26 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.

27 And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.

Amos 5:13-27 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.