Amos 5:18-27

New International Version

The Day of the Lord

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

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

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

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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