Amos 5:16-27

New American Standard Bible

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:

“There is ^(A)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the ^(B)farmer to mourning
And ^[a]^(C)professional mourners to mourning rites.
¹⁷And in all the ^(D)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸Woe to you who are longing for the ^(E)day of the Lord,
For what ^[b]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be ^(F)darkness and not light;
¹⁹As when a man ^(G)flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
^[c]Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall,
And a snake bites him.
²⁰Will the day of the Lord not be ^(H)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I ^(I)reject your festivals,
Nor do I ^[d]^(J)delight in your festive assemblies.
²²Even though you ^(K)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the ^(L)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
²⁴But let ^(M)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵“^[e]^(N)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶^(O)You also carried along ^[f]Sikkuth your king and ^[g]Kiyyun, your images, ^[h]the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. ²⁷Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.