Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?
Parallel translations
- WEB Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
- KJV Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
- NKJV Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
- NASB Will the day of the Lord not be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
- NLT Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Amos repeats that the day of Yahweh will be utter darkness with no brightness in it. He drives home that the unrepentant have everything backwards about God's coming.
Overview
By restating the theme as a rhetorical question, Amos leaves no room for the false hope that the day will be light for sinful Israel. The total absence of brightness pictures judgment without relief for those under God's wrath. Yet for those redeemed in Christ, the same day becomes light, for he is the light no darkness can overcome.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 13:10For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
- Zeph 1:15That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
- Ezek 34:12As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.
- Job 10:21–22before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
- Jude 1:13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
- Rev 16:10And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish
- Job 3:4–6If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it.
- Nah 1:8But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
- Matt 22:13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 5:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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