Amos 5:16-27

New International Version

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing^(A) in all the streets^(B)
    and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers^(C) will be summoned to weep
    and the mourners to wail.
¹⁷There will be wailing^(D) in all the vineyards,
    for I will pass through^(E) your midst,”
says the Lord.^(F)

The Day of the Lord

¹⁸Woe to you who long
    for the day of the Lord!^(G)
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?^(H)
    That day will be darkness,^(I) not light.^(J)
¹⁹It will be as though a man fled from a lion
    only to meet a bear,^(K)
as though he entered his house
    and rested his hand on the wall
    only to have a snake bite him.^(L)
²⁰Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,^(M) not light—
    pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?^(N)

²¹“I hate,^(O) I despise your religious festivals;^(P)
    your assemblies^(Q) are a stench to me.
²²Even though you bring me burnt offerings^(R) and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.^(S)
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.^(T)
²³Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.^(U)
²⁴But let justice^(V) roll on like a river,
    righteousness^(W) like a never-failing stream!^(X)

²⁵“Did you bring me sacrifices^(Y) and offerings
    forty years^(Z) in the wilderness, people of Israel?
²⁶You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    the pedestal of your idols,^(AA)
    the star of your god^[a]—
    which you made for yourselves.
²⁷Therefore I will send you into exile^(AB) beyond Damascus,”
    says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.^(AC)

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Footnotes

Amos 5:26 Or lifted up Sakkuth your king / and Kaiwan your idols, / your star-gods; Septuagint lifted up the shrine of Molek / and the star of your god Rephan, / their idols