Bible Strands
Amos 5:18
Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos addresses the people of Israel during a period of religious complacency. He speaks at a moment when the nation expects divine favor but is actually facing impending judgment.
The words — ה֥וֹי (Ho) literally means "woe" or "alas," functioning as a pronouncement of impending disaster. מִתְאַוִּים (mit'awwim) translates to "those who desire" or "long for," targeting the specific attitude of the audience.
The thread — The "Day of the LORD" motif appears in Joel 1:15 as a time of destruction and in Joel 2:31 as a moment of cosmic darkness. These references consistently frame the day as an event of awe and judgment rather than deliverance.
Why it lands — The text confronts readers who assume religious expectation guarantees blessing by declaring that unrepentant expectation yields darkness. It demands a reevaluation of one's posture toward divine judgment rather than a passive hope for rescue.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
Cross-references
- Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Joel 2:1 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—
- Joel 2:31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 30:7 How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
- Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Isaiah 5:19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”
- Isaiah 5:30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- Isaiah 9:19 By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.
- Isaiah 24:11 In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.
- Zephaniah 1:14 The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.