Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and 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?
- BSB Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with 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 the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
- Zeph 1:15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
- Ezek 34:12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
- Job 10:21–22Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
- Jude 1:13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
- Rev 16:10And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
- Job 3:4–6Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
- Nah 1:8But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
- Matt 22:13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.