Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream


NRSV

“I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I [delight/like to smell] in your solemn assemblies.
“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.
“Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
NASB

general assumption that Amos’s hearers must have held – ... was that divine beings required sacrifice from mortals.
Barton (66)

this probably really does mean that God is not interested in the sacrificial cult, and prefers human justice to worship through sacrificial offerings (or even through the offering of music and song, quite an extraordinary idea). This is so remarkable that many commentators refuse to believe it, and argue that Amos really wants people to be just as well as to offer sacrifice, but it seems to me that the point could hardly be made more plainly that sacrifice is not desired.
Barton (196)

'such an interpretation of the prophets as against the cultus is anachronistic, a reading back by Protestants, of Protestantism, into the Old Testament'


“Protestants” in this sense classically argue that God is not concerned with outward ceremonies but with the inward dispositions of the heart, and especially with how those dispositions work themselves out in the practice of social justice.


It is still possible to be concerned with the outside of religious things, and not to concern oneself much with justice and mercy.


Barton''s comment on these ideas (196ff)


Justice and Righteousness are combined in Amos5:7, Hos. 2:19, Isa, 1:21,27;9:7; Jer.22:15.


Used in 8thC : "fulfilment of responsibilities ie.

  • ruler and people
  • tribal heads and clans people
  • parents and children
  • citizens and resident aliens
  • priests and congregations
    Anderson (43)

Prevost spots 8 'cultic terms' in the first three verses in this 'radical criticism' of the cult .
Prevost (34)

Pilgrimages: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles "which require a pilgrimage to Jerusalem"
Prevost (35)

Justice and Righteousness
'the true worship which pleases God"
Prevost (35)

Clear break from previous passage, A sudden move into 'the first person divine'
Wolff (260)

I hate, I despise your festivities,
I can no longer smell the odour of your festivals
When you offer me burnt offerings
...;
I do not appreciate your offerings
Part of Soggin (96)

Nowhere else in the bible: Hate and Reject juxtaposed 'the harshest of renunciatory statements'
Wolff (262) Hayes agrees (172)

In cultic practice 'the cultic spokeman' would either accept or reject a sacrifice


Here YHWH refuses to

  • smell/savour
  • look on
  • listen to
  • accept from
    his people

Wolff (263)

Noise: same word is used for the sound of battle
Wolff (263)

  • ‘I hate. I despise your lectures and seminars, your sermons, addresses, and BibIe studies, and I take no delight in your discussions, meetings, and conventions.
  • For when you display your hermeneutic, dogmatic, ethical, and pastoral bits of wisdom before one another and before me, I have no pleasure in them; I disdain these offerings of your fatted calves.
  • Take away from me the hue and cry that you old men raise with your thick books and you young men with your dissertations! I will not listen to the melody of your reviews that you compose in your theological magazines, monthlies, and quarterlies.’

Author's point being
'All theology is threatened finally and definitively by the temptation (to think) that it all come from Him'

We cannot love God if we do not also love our neighbour' Achtemeier (211-12)

Wolff sees v22a as a later edition
Wolff (259-60)

Soggin makes the point that there is 'something missing (marked with ellipsis) . something like 'displease me'
Soggin (97)

v22 'a protasis without an apodosis' ...perhaps Even if you present burnt offerings to me I will not receive them.
Mays (106)

unmistakably clear that all of Israel's worship is totally rejected Mays (106)

no hint that the ritual was ... irregular or pagan Mays (107)

this oracle ...crisis of having nothing to do but listen to the divine word while God ...takes over
'the rejection of that cult is total and unqualified'
Mays (108-9)

It would be possible to argue that the condemnation...is of the specific group to whom the text was addressed rather than a more general rejection of religious rites
Coggins (130)

widely held that some disruption [to v22] has taken place] Coggins (131)

vv21-22 in the plural but the musician is addressed in the singular Coggins (132)

v24 message: 'Moral revival is necessary for national surviva'l . 'a prophecy applicable to the people of ancient Israel and to all the peoples of the earth now as then
Hyman (233-4)

Prophet is saying 'Israelites that they must cease their preoccupation with
feasts, festal gatherings, offerings, ete., in order that Yahweh may
cause to flow down upon them His deliverance and salvation
Hyatt (24)

Perhaps the most famous paraphrase of Amos was Martin Luther King in his March 1963 'I have a Dream' speech
'until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.'
Ackerman (190)

The 'But' of v24 might lead us to expect a 'recital of positive... replacement behaviours of erring people '


What we get is a chiasmus
Hyman (229-31)



Hayes concludes that

  • 'hag' in this context refers to 'the great pilgrimage festival' in the autumn and not all festivals
  • condemns the competitiveness between Bethel and Gilgal'
    Hayes (172)

The sacrifices listed

  • burnt offerings
  • cereal offering
  • well-being offerings
    all fall into the category of voluntary offerings
    (Lev. 1-3;6:8-18;7:11-36)
    'No connection' to mandatory offerings required to atone for sin'
    Hayes (173)

central motif of the fall festival was the coming of rains and renewal of streams
Hayes (174)