Amos 5:21–23

Context

Amos was a shepherd from Tekoa in Judah. According to Amos 1:1, he went to the northern kingdom and prophesied there during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel. The northern kingdom was relatively prosperous at the time. Amos, however, denounces a society in which the poor were trampled and bribes were taken in the courts (Amos 5:10–12).

Chapter 5 opens with a lament (a song mourning the dead) over Israel. It then urges the people not to seek sanctuaries such as Bethel and Gilgal but instead to "Seek ye me, and ye shall live" (Amos 5:4). Verses 18–20 declare that the "day of the LORD" for which the people longed would be darkness, not light.

In verses 21–23, God speaks in the first person. He rejects their feasts and solemn assemblies (sacred gatherings); he will not accept their burnt offerings (sacrifices burned whole), grain offerings, or peace offerings (sacrifices of thanksgiving and fellowship); and he will not listen to their songs or the melody of their viols. Verse 24, which follows immediately, gives the reason for this rejection: "But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

Interpretation

• As a rebuke of the inconsistency between worship and life: This reading is followed by many commentators, including those in evangelical and Reformed circles. It holds that what God rejected was not sacrifice itself but merely formal worship offered while justice was abandoned. The passage is understood to stand in the same line as other prophetic texts such as Isaiah 1 and Micah 6.
• As a critique of the sacrificial system: This interpretation has been proposed by some historical-critical scholars. Verse 25 asks whether Israel offered sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness. On the basis of this question, these scholars hold that the eighth-century prophets criticized the sacrificial system itself. Others counter that this reading takes too literally the sharp rhetoric of contrast characteristic of the prophetic books.
• As a text on social justice: This reading takes the passage together with verse 24 and emphasizes communal justice as central to faith. Martin Luther King Jr.'s quotation of verse 24 in his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech is widely known.

Questions of Application

The passage is not the subject of any marked controversy between denominations. Nevertheless, the following questions are raised:

• Can it be applied directly to worship today? Because the Old Testament sacrifices have been fulfilled in Christ, the text cannot simply be transferred and applied literally. Most churches, however, apply to contemporary worship the principle that worship and obedience must be one.
• The songs and instruments of verse 23: The common understanding is that, in context, the verse does not object to any particular music or instrument; what it objects to is the life of the worshipers. Accordingly, many hold that the verse can hardly serve as grounds for opposing particular forms in the worship music controversy.
• Translation differences: The Hebrew words mishpat and tsedaqah in verse 24 are rendered gongbeop and jeongui in the Korean Revised Version, but jeongui and gongui in the Revised New Korean Version. As a result, the same Hebrew words appear differently from one Korean translation to another.

In the Korean Church

In preaching, the passage is commonly read together with verse 24. It is used as a warning against allowing religious acts, such as attending worship services or giving offerings, to become detached from honesty and justice in everyday life.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 1:16–17: After rebuking the formal sacrifices of the southern kingdom of Judah, God urges the people to do good.
• Micah 6:6–8: God requires justice, mercy, and humility rather than offerings.
• Psalm 51:16–17: The sacrifice God seeks is a broken spirit.
• Matthew 9:13: Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice."
• Matthew 23:23: Jesus rebukes those who pay tithes but neglect justice and mercy.