Amos 5:21 (DRB)

Passage

I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

Nearby Context

Amos 5:19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

Amos 5:20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?

Amos 5:21 I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

Amos 5:22 And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.

Amos 5:23 Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hate", "rejected", "festivities", "receive", "odour", and "assemblies". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hate" and "rejected", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "Shall not the day of the Lord..." into verse 22's "And if you offer me holocausts and...", so "hate" and "rejected" belong inside that flow. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "hate" and "rejected" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.