The Day of the Lord Is Darkness and Exile Foretold
Amos 5:18-27
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Amo.5.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הוי: INTJ
- המתאוים: VERB,hitpael,ptc,-,m,pl,-
- את: PRT,acc
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- למה: ADV
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- לכם: PREP,2,m,pl
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- חשך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Joel 2:1-2 (verbal): Both warn of the 'day of the LORD' as a day of darkness, gloom and thick clouds—language and imagery closely parallel Amos 5:18.
- Zephaniah 1:14-15 (verbal): Describes the day of the LORD as a day of wrath, distress, darkness and gloom—very similar vocabulary and judgment-theme to Amos 5:18.
- Joel 2:31 (verbal): Speaks of cosmic darkening ('the sun turned to darkness') tied to the day of the LORD, echoing Amos’s characterization of that day as darkness not light.
- Isaiah 13:9-10 (thematic): Announces the day of the LORD as a day of punishment with cosmic signs (darkening of sun and stars), thematically close to Amos’s portrayal of the day as darkness.
- Ezekiel 30:3 (thematic): Proclaims the day of the LORD as near and a day of clouds/doom for the nations—parallels Amos’s emphasis on the day as impending judgment and darkness.
Alternative generated candidates
- Woe to those who long for the day of the LORD! Why would you long for the day of the LORD? It will be darkness, not light.
- Woe to those who long for the day of the LORD—why do you long for the day of the LORD? It will be darkness, not light.
Amo.5.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כאשר: CONJ
- ינוס: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מפני: PREP
- הארי: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ופגעו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- הדב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ובא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הבית: NOUN,m,sg,def
- וסמך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ידו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- הקיר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ונשכו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- הנחש: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- 1 Samuel 17:34-36 (verbal): David recalls defending sheep from a lion and a bear — the same lion/bear motif is used in Amos, but there it functions as an image of sudden, unavoidable danger rather than past deliverance.
- Psalm 91:13 (verbal): Mentions treading on lion and serpent (adder) — shares the lion and snake imagery and contrasts promises of protection with Amos’s warning of unexpected harm.
- Hosea 13:7-8 (allusion): God portrayed as a lion that suddenly attacks and leaves none to deliver — thematically parallels Amos’s depiction of inescapable divine judgment pictured as wild beasts.
- Matthew 24:43-44 (thematic): Jesus warns of sudden, unexpected judgment (like a thief) — parallels Amos’s motif that perceived safety may be illusory and judgment can overtake people unexpectedly.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (thematic): Paul’s statement that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night echoes the theme of sudden, unforeseen calamity present in Amos 5:19.
Alternative generated candidates
- As when a man flees from a lion and is met by a bear, or goes into the house, leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him.
- As when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him; when he goes into the house, leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him.
Amo.5.20 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הלא: PART
- חשך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואפל: CONJ+ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- נגה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Joel 2:2 (verbal): Uses the same phraseology—'a day of darkness and gloom'/'clouds and thick darkness'—to describe the Day of the LORD as one of darkness rather than light, closely mirroring Amos' imagery.
- Zephaniah 1:14-15 (verbal): Characterizes the coming Day of the LORD as a 'day of wrath... a day of darkness and gloom,' echoing Amos' depiction of the day as dark and bereft of light.
- Isaiah 13:9-10 (thematic): Describes the Day of the LORD with cosmic darkening—'the stars... will not give their light'—paralleling Amos' theme of the LORD's day being darkness rather than light.
- Zechariah 14:6-7 (thematic): Speaks of a future day when normal light is absent or altered ('there shall be no light'), thematically related to Amos' assertion that the Day of the LORD will be darkness, not brightness.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light, even gloom without brightness?
- Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light, gloom without any brightness?
Amo.5.21 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שנאתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- מאסתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- חגיכם: NOUN,m,pl,suff
- ולא: CONJ
- אריח: VERB,qal,impf,1,c,sg
- בעצרתיכם: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,suff
Parallels
- Isaiah 1:11-15 (verbal): God repudiates Israel’s sacrifices and festivals as meaningless—language and intent closely parallel Amos’s rejection of festivals and solemn assemblies.
- Hosea 6:6 (verbal): “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice” contrasts true loyalty with mere ritual, echoing Amos’s denunciation of outward worship without covenant faithfulness.
- Psalm 51:16-17 (verbal): Declares that God does not delight in sacrifice but in a contrite heart, reinforcing the theme that ritual offerings are unacceptable apart from repentance.
- Micah 6:6-8 (thematic): Responds to questions about appropriate offerings by emphasizing justice, mercy, and humility—countering the notion that ritual observance suffices.
- Isaiah 58:3-7 (thematic): Condemns fasting and religious observance that coexist with oppression and injustice, paralleling Amos’s critique of ritual amid social unrighteousness.
Alternative generated candidates
- I hate, I despise your festivals; I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
- I hate, I despise your festivals; I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Amo.5.22 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- אם: CONJ
- תעלו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- עלות: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- ומנחתיכם: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,suff,2,mp
- לא: PART_NEG
- ארצה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ושלם: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מריאיכם: NOUN,m,pl,suff,2,mp
- לא: PART_NEG
- אביט: VERB,qal,imperf,1,na,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 1:11-15 (verbal): Isaiah condemns empty ritual with language close to Amos (’I hate, I spurn your feasts... when you spread out your hands I hide my eyes’), rejecting sacrifices and worship offered apart from righteousness.
- Hosea 6:6 (verbal): ’For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice’ states God’s preference for covenantal mercy over ritual offerings—summarizes Amos’ critique of unacceptable sacrifices.
- Micah 6:6-8 (thematic): Micah questions the value of ritual offerings and answers by requiring justice, mercy, and humility—paralleling Amos’ emphasis that worship without justice is rejected.
- Psalm 50:9-13 (verbal): God declares He does not need sacrifices from men (’I will not accept a bull from your house…’), stressing that sacrificial worship is inadequate when God’s moral demands are ignored—echoing Amos 5:22.
- Matthew 9:13 (quotation): Jesus cites Hosea 6:6 (’I desire mercy, not sacrifice’) to rebuke religious formalism—New Testament application of the prophetic critique found in Amos.
Alternative generated candidates
- If you offer me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; nor will I look with favor on the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
- Even if you bring me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fat ones I will not regard.
Amo.5.23 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הסר: VERB,hiph,impv,2,m,sg
- מעלי: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- המון: NOUN,m,sg,def
- שריך: NOUN,m,pl,suff
- וזמרת: NOUN,f,sg,abs,1cs
- נבליך: NOUN,m,pl,suff-2ms
- לא: PART_NEG
- אשמע: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Amos 5:21-24 (structural): Immediate context: God rejects ritual worship (songs, sacrifices) while injustice persists — culminating in 'let justice roll down.'
- Isaiah 1:11-15 (thematic): Isaiah condemns meaningless offerings and songs, saying God is tired of sacrifices and will not listen to prayers while moral corruption remains.
- Hosea 6:6 (verbal): 'For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice' — stresses God's preference for loyal mercy over external cultic acts, echoing Amos' rejection of ritual music.
- Micah 6:6-8 (thematic): Rhetorical challenge about what offerings please God, answered by the demand for justice, mercy, and humility rather than empty cultic gifts.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 (verbal): Samuel's statement 'to obey is better than sacrifice' parallels Amos' theme that ritual practice is unacceptable without obedience and righteousness.
Alternative generated candidates
- Take away from me the noise of your songs— I will not listen to the music of your lyres.
- Take away from me the noise of your songs; the sound of your harps I will not listen to.
Amo.5.24 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויגל: VERB,qal,wayyiq,3,m,sg
- כמים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- משפט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וצדקה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כנחל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- איתן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 1:17 (thematic): Calls Israel to ‘learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression’—an ethical summons to justice and righteousness like Amos’ demand that they flow continually.
- Micah 6:8 (thematic): Summarizes God's requirement as ‘to do justice, love kindness, walk humbly’—a compact statement of the same moral priorities Amos emphasizes.
- Psalm 82:3-4 (verbal): Commands to ‘give justice to the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed,’ echoing Amos’ concrete concern for justice and righteousness on behalf of the vulnerable.
- Isaiah 5:7 (thematic): Declares God looked for justice and righteousness but found bloodshed and outcry—provides a prophetic contrast to Amos’ exhortation and highlights Israel’s failure to live out those ideals.
- Matthew 23:23 (allusion): Jesus reproves religious leaders for neglecting ‘justice, mercy, and faithfulness’—invoking the same priority of justice over ritual observance that Amos asserts.
Alternative generated candidates
- But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
- But let justice roll on like waters, and righteousness like a mighty, ever-flowing stream.
Amo.5.25 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הזבחים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ומנחה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הגשתם: VERB,hiph,perf,2,m,pl
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- במדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ארבעים: NUM,m,pl
- שנה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Acts 7:42-43 (quotation): Stephen directly quotes Amos 5:25-27 (LXX form), citing Israel’s carrying of idols and asking whether their wilderness sacrifices pleased God.
- Amos 5:21-24 (structural): Immediate context: Amos condemns Israel’s festivals and offerings as unacceptable, arguing that ritual is rejected when justice and righteousness are absent.
- Numbers 25:1-5 (thematic): Describes Israel’s idolatry and illicit worship of foreign gods during the wilderness period (Baal-peor), paralleling Amos’ charge about apostasy in the wilderness.
- Ezekiel 20:7-12 (allusion): Ezekiel recounts Israel’s failures in the wilderness—God’s revelation, their disobedience and idolatry—echoing the prophetic critique of wilderness worship and rebellion.
- Psalm 78:40-41 (thematic): The psalm recalls Israel’s repeated rebellions in the wilderness and testing of God, thematically paralleling Amos’ reference to the forty years of wandering and misplaced worship.
Alternative generated candidates
- Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
- Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Amo.5.26 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ונשאתם: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,pl
- את: PRT,acc
- סכות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- מלככם: NOUN,m,sg,abs+SUFF,2,m,pl
- ואת: CONJ
- כיון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צלמיכם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2,m,pl
- כוכב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אלהיכם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,pl
- אשר: PRON,rel
- עשיתם: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,pl
- לכם: PREP,2,m,pl
Parallels
- Acts 7:43 (quotation): Stephen cites Amos 5:26 (LXX), explicitly naming 'Sakkuth your king and Chiun your images/the star of your god,' showing an early New Testament quotation of this denunciation of astral/idolatrous worship.
- Amos 5:25 (structural): Immediate context: the preceding verse questions whether Israel brought sacrifices to YHWH in the wilderness, setting up the indictment that they instead carried idols (v.26).
- Amos 5:27 (structural): The following verse announces the penalty (exile) for the idolatry condemned in v.26, linking the carrying of images to impending deportation.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 (thematic): A Mosaic prohibition against looking to or worshiping the sun, moon and stars; thematically parallels Amos's attack on astral/idolatrous devotion ('the star of your god').
- 2 Kings 17:16 (thematic): Describes Israel's adoption of foreign gods and worship of 'the host of heaven' and idols—paralleling Amos's critique of carrying images and serving astral deities.
Alternative generated candidates
- You carried the tent of your king and Chiun, your images—the star of your god—which you made for yourselves.
- You bore Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun your images—the star of your god—your idols that you made for yourselves.
Amo.5.27 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והגליתי: VERB,hiph,perf,1,c,sg
- אתכם: PRT+PRON,2,m,pl
- מהלאה: PREP
- לדמשק: PREP+NOUN,prop,sg
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- צבאות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שמו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- 2 Kings 17:6 (thematic): Describes the Assyrian deportation of Israel — a historical fulfillment of the prophetic threat that the people would be removed from their land.
- Amos 7:17 (structural): From the same prophetic corpus; likewise pronounces removal of people from their land as divine judgment (Israel ‘shall surely go into exile’).
- Hosea 9:17 (thematic): Declares that God will ‘cast them away’ and they will be wanderers among the nations, echoing Amos’s prediction of displacement.
- Jeremiah 9:16 (thematic): Speaks of God scattering the people among the nations as punishment — parallel language and theme of exile as divine retribution.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (allusion): Part of the covenant curses promising that the LORD will scatter his people among the nations — the legal-theological background to prophetic threats of deportation like Amos 5:27.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD God of hosts.
- I will drive you away from there to Damascus, says the LORD—whose name is the LORD God of hosts.
Woe to those who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light.
As when a man flees from a lion and is met by a bear, or goes into his house and leans his hand on the wall and a snake bites him.
Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light, gloom without brightness?
I hate, I despise your festivals; I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.
Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fat beasts I will not regard.
Take away from me the noise of your songs; the music of your harps I will not hear. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Did you present to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? And you carried the booths of your king and the images, the star of your god, the handiwork you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will send you away beyond Damascus, says the LORD, the God of hosts.