Exegesis of the Book of Amos

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I did a huge amount of work on this. I covered all areas and included all three translations.
Of course, these opinions and interpretations are mine and mine alone. They are not (necessarily) yours.
Make sure you put anything in your own words.

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Amos 5:18-25
The Day of the Lord

Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
That day will be darkness, not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
"I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? (NIV)

Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord,
For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear meets him,
[a]Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.
Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
"I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I [b]delight in your solemn assemblies.
"Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
"Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
"But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
"[c]Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain
offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? (NASB)

Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord.
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light.
As if a man flees from the lion and the bear meets him,
and he comes to the house and leans his hand
on the wall, and a serpent bites him.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light,
even very dark, with no brightness in it.
I hate, I reject your festivals,
and I will not smell [the sacrifices of] your assemblies.
For if you offer up to Me burnt- offerings and your meal-offerings,
I will not accept [them], and the peace offerings of
your fattened cattle I will not regard.
Take away from Me the din of your songs, and the music of your lutes I will not hear.
And justice shall be revealed like water, and
righteousness like a mighty stream.
Did you offer Me sacrifices and meal-offerings
in the desert forty years, O house of Israel? (Tanakh)

The issue here is the reign of Jeroboam II, who died in 746BC. He is one of a lengthy list of Israelite (ie northern) rulers who were corrupt and more or less pagan. The further issue is that this particular king brought the northern kingdom to a place of peace and prosperity. As the long time enemies of Israel, Assyria, began to falter after decades of well known brutality, Israel had a confidence it had not seen in some time.

This context makes Amos' preaching all the more difficult. Cleaves in wealth and power developed yet again, and Israel became just another expansionist, noble-ruled monarchy. She was no longer special in the Hebraic sense. Amos is extremely class conscious. Throughout the work, he condemns the differences in rich and poor. Material wealth matters: much of it distorts the vision. Wealth creates power and has, intrinsically, non-economic aspects to it that are being ignored. The poor, without legal protections, are easy targets for attack. They were exploited and yet again, Israel is now a secular society (Mayes, 1969).

"Day of Yahweh" is a concept that partly made Amos famous. In the midst of prosperity and peace, Amos condemns what Israel had become. "Prosperity" can only be here used relatively, since a substantial proportion of the ...