Amos 5:18

Amos 5:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
• New International Version (NIV)Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light.

Context of Amos 5:18

16Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “There is wailing in all the plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They also call the farmer to mourning And professional mourners to lamentation. 17And in all the vineyards there is wailing, Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord. Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light; 19As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. 20Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?

Amos 5:18 word by word

ה֥וֹי הַמִּתְאַוִּ֖ים אֶת־י֣וֹם יְהוָ֑ה לָמָּה־זֶּ֥ה לָכֶ֛ם י֥וֹם יְהוָ֖ה הוּא־חֹ֥שֶׁךְ וְלֹא־אֽוֹר׃Read the interlinear

• Alasהוֹיhôy · woe!H1945
• you who are longingאָוָה'âvâh · to desireH183
• dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• For whatמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• purposeזֶהzeh · thisH2088
• darknessחֹ֫שֶׁךְchôshek · darknessH2822
• and not lightאוֹר'ôr · lightH216

Cross-references for Amos 5:18

• Isaiah 5:19Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!”
• Isaiah 28:15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
• Jeremiah 17:15Look, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!”
• Ezekiel 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb you people have concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are long and every vision fails’?
• Malachi 3:1“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
• 2 Peter 3:4and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
• Isaiah 5:30And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.
• Isaiah 9:19By the fury of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother.
• Isaiah 24:11There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished.
• Jeremiah 30:7Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.
• Joel 1:15Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
• Joel 2:1Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near,
• Zephaniah 1:14Near is the great day of the Lord, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the Lord! In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
• Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”
• 2 Peter 3:10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Commentaries on Amos 5:18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord - The prophet had often denounced the coming of God's day, that is, of a time of judgment; and the unbelievers had said, "Let his day come, that we may see it." Now the prophet tells them that that day would be to them darkness - calamity, and not light - not prosperity.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18Woe unto you that desire - for yourselves. The Day of the Lord - There were “mockers in those days” 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 1:18, as there are now, and as there shall be in the last. And as the “scoffers in the last days” 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 1:18 shall say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” so these said, “let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we way see it, and let the council of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it”…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. 18Amos again challenges the Israelites' mistaken belief about their chosen status (see Amos 3:2). The phrase What will the Day of the LORD be for you indicates despair from a great tragedy. In the Old Testament, the day of the Lord (see Isaiah 13:6, 9) was when God would intervene to fix what was wrong. God's intervention would mean vindication for the righteous and judgment for the wicked. Israel believed that on that day (see also Amos 8:3, 9, 13; 9:11)…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. Woe unto you who do not scruple to say in irony, "We desire that the day of the Lord would come," that is, "Woe to you who treat it as if it were a mere dream of the prophets" (Is 5:19; Jr 17:15; Eze 12:22). to what end is it for you!--Amos taking their ironical words in earnest: for God often takes the blasphemer at his own word, in righteous retribution making the scoffer's jest a terrible reality against himself. Ye have but little reason to desire…Read the comment

Topics related to Amos 5:18

• Darkness
• Day
• Infidelity
• Judgments
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Manifold
• Seek
• Amos (1)
• Eschatology of the Old Testament
• Joel (2)

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