Amos 5:21 (LSB)

Passage

“I hate, I reject your feasts, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

Nearby Context

Amos 5:19 As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him; Or he goes home, leans his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him.

Amos 5:20 Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness instead of light, Even thick darkness with no brightness in it?

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I reject your feasts, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

Amos 5:22 Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

Amos 5:23 Remove from Me the tumult of your songs; I will not even listen to the melody of your harps.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "light", "hate", "reject", "feasts", "delight", "solemn", and "assemblies". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "light" and "hate", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "Will not the day of Yahweh be..." into verse 22's "Even though you offer up to Me...", so "light" and "hate" 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 "light" and "hate" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.