Amos 5:16-26

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament.

17 And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

22 And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.

23 Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

24 But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.

25 Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?

26 you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

Amos 5:16-26 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.