Add parallel Print Page Options

23 Say to them therefore: Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to that proverb; they shall never use it again in Israel. Say to them instead: “The days are at hand and every vision fulfilled.”(A)

Read full chapter

Yes, a day approaches,
    a day of the Lord approaches:
A day of dark cloud,
    a time appointed for the nations.(A)

Read full chapter

Second Woe

18 Woe to those who yearn
    for the day of the Lord![a]
What will the day of the Lord mean for you?
    It will be darkness, not light!(A)
19 As if someone fled from a lion
    and a bear met him;
Or as if on entering the house
    he rested his hand against the wall,
    and a snake bit it.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:18 The day of the Lord: first mentioned in Amos, this refers to a specific time in the future, known to the Lord alone, when God’s enemies would be decisively defeated. The common assumption among Israelites was that the Lord’s foes and Israel’s foes were one and the same. But Amos makes it clear that because the people have become God’s enemies by refusing to heed the prophetic word, they too would experience the divine wrath on that fateful day. However, during the exile this expression comes to mean a time when God would avenge Israel against its oppressors and bring about its restoration (Jer 50:27; Ez 30:3–5).

14 Near is the great day of the Lord,
    near and very swiftly coming.
The sound of the day of the Lord! Piercing—
    there a warrior shrieks!

Read full chapter