New English Translation
Amos 5:21
21“I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from 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
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? “I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! 22Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. 23Take away from me your noisy songs; I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments.
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 15:8The Lord abhors the sacrifices of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
- Proverbs 21:27The wicked person’s sacrifice is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent!
- Proverbs 28:9The one who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
- Isaiah 1:11“Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am stuffed with burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want.
- Isaiah 66:3The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; the one who offers incense also praises an idol. They have decided to behave this way; they enjoy these disgusting practices.
- Jeremiah 6:20I take no delight when they offer up to me frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’
- Jeremiah 7:21The Lord said to the people of Judah, “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!
- Hosea 8:13They offer up sacrificial gifts to me, and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt.
- Genesis 8:21And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
- Leviticus 26:31I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas.
- Ephesians 5:2and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
- Philippians 4:18For I have received everything, and I have plenty. I have all I need because I received from Epaphroditus what you sent – a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, very pleasing to God.
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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