God’s Word Translation
Amos 5:21
21I hate your festivals; I despise them. I’m not pleased with your religious assemblies.
Amos 5:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
- New International Version (NIV)“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
Context of Amos 5:21
19It is like a person who flees from a lion only to be attacked by a bear. It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake. 20The day of the Lord brings darkness and not light. It is pitch black, with no light. I hate your festivals; I despise them. I’m not pleased with your religious assemblies. 22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them. I won’t even look at the fellowship offerings of your choicest animals. 23Spare me the sound of your songs. I won’t listen to the music of your harps.
Read all of Amos 5Amos 5:21 word by word
שָׂנֵ֥אתִי מָאַ֖סְתִּי חַגֵּיכֶ֑ם וְלֹ֥א אָרִ֖יחַ בְּעַצְּרֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Amos 5:21
- Proverbs 15:8A sacrifice brought by wicked people is disgusting to the Lord, but the prayers of decent people please him.
- Proverbs 21:27The sacrifice of wicked people is disgusting, especially if they bring it with evil intent.
- Proverbs 28:9Surely the prayer of someone who refuses to listen to ⌞God’s⌟ teachings is disgusting.
- Isaiah 1:11The Lord asks, “What do your many animal sacrifices mean to me? I’ve had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and enough fat from your fattened calves. I’m not pleased with the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.
- Isaiah 66:3Whoever kills a bull is like someone who kills a person. Whoever sacrifices a lamb is like someone who breaks a dog’s neck. Whoever offers a grain sacrifice is like someone who ⌞offers⌟ pig’s blood. Whoever burns incense is like someone who worships an idol. People have certainly chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in detestable things.
- Jeremiah 6:20Incense that comes from Sheba is no good to me. Sugar cane that comes from a distant land is no good to me. I won’t accept your burnt offerings. I’m not pleased with your sacrifices.
- Jeremiah 7:21“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the meat.
- Hosea 8:13They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat of sacrifices, but I, the Lord, do not accept these sacrifices. Now I will remember their wickedness and punish them because of their sins. They will go back to Egypt.
- Genesis 8:21The Lord smelled the soothing aroma. He said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humans, even though from birth their hearts are set on nothing but evil. I will never again kill every living creature as I have just done.
- Leviticus 26:31I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices.
- Ephesians 5:2Live in love as Christ also loved us. He gave his life for us as an offering and sacrifice, a soothing aroma to God.
- Philippians 4:18You have paid me in full, and I have more than enough. Now that Epaphroditus has brought me your gifts, you have filled my needs. Your gifts are a soothing aroma, a sacrifice that God accepts and with which he is pleased.
Commentaries on Amos 5:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21I hate, I despise your feast days - I abominate those sacrificial festivals where there is no piety, and I despise them because they pretend to be what they are not. This may refer to the three annual festivals which were still observed in a certain way among the Israelites.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21I hate, I despise your feasts - Israel clave to its heart‘s sin, the worship of the true God, under the idol-form of the calf; else, it would fain be conscientious and scrupulous. It had its “feasts” of solemn “joy” and the “restraint” of its “solemn assemblies”, which all were constrained to keep, abstaining from all servile work. They offered “whole burnt offerings,” the token of self-sacrifice, in which the sacrificer retained nothing to himself, but…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-27Verses 18-27 Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion; as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. Those who are not reformed by the judgments of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21-27Amos again confronts the religious hypocrisy and spiritual unfaithfulness of the Israelites. They practiced worship outwardly, but their lives did not match faithfulness to God (see Amos 4:4–5; Isaiah 1:10–20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. I hate, I despise--The two verbs joined without a conjunction express God's strong abhorrence. your feast days--yours; not Mine; I do not acknowledge them: unlike those in Judah, yours are of human, not divine institution. I will not smell--that is, I will take no delight in the sacrifices offered (Ge 8:21; Le 26:31). in your solemn assemblies--literally, "days of restraint." Is 1:10-15 is parallel. Isaiah is fuller; Amos, more condensed. Amos…Read the comment
Topics related to Amos 5:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Amos 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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