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

16Because of Israel’s sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: “In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail. 17In all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord. Woe to those who wish for the day of the Lord! Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light. 19Disaster will be inescapable, as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake. 20Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring darkness, not light – gloomy blackness, not bright light?

Amos 5:18 word by word

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

Words taken from the KJV.

• Woeהוֹיhôy · woe!H1945
• unto you that desireאָוָה'âvâh · to desireH183
• the dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• to what endמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• darknessחֹ֫שֶׁךְchôshek · darknessH2822
• and not lightאוֹר'ôr · lightH216

Cross-references for Amos 5:18

• Isaiah 5:19They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!”
• Isaiah 28:15For you say, “We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.”
• Jeremiah 17:15Listen to what they are saying to me. They are saying, “Where are the things the Lord threatens us with? Come on! Let’s see them happen!”
• Ezekiel 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, ‘The days pass slowly, and every vision fails’?
• Malachi 3:1“I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.
• 2 Peter 3:4and saying, “Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”
• Isaiah 5:30At that time they will growl over their prey, it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster, clouds will turn the light into darkness.
• Isaiah 9:19Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, and the people became fuel for the fire. People had no compassion on one another.
• Isaiah 24:11They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; all joy turns to sorrow; celebrations disappear from the earth.
• Jeremiah 30:7Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.
• Joel 1:15How awful that day will be! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.
• Joel 2:1Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear, for the day of the Lord is about to come. Indeed, it is near!
• Zephaniah 1:14The Lord’s great day of judgment is almost here; it is approaching very rapidly! There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment; at that time warriors will cry out in battle.
• Malachi 4:1(3:19) “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It will not leave even a root or branch.
• 2 Peter 3:10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.

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