“I hate your festivals!
I despise your festivals!
I take no delight
In your solemn assemblies!
Even though you offer me
Your burnt offerings,
Your grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
I will not look upon
The peace offerings
Of your fatted animals.
Take away from me
The noise of your songs.
I will not listen
To the melody
Of your harps.
But let justice
Roll down
Like water.
Let righteousness be
Like an ever-flowing stream.”
Amos has Yahweh reject the Temple cultic worship side of Israelite life in very strong terms. Yahweh hated and despised the religious festivals that were part of Temple worship. Neither did Yahweh take any delight in their solemn assemblies. Yahweh was not going to accept their burnt offerings and grain offerings. He was not going to even look at their peace offerings of fat animals. He wanted them to take away the noise of their chants and songs, since he was not going to listen to their melodic harps. Instead, he wanted justice to roll down from the hills like gushing water. He wanted righteousness to be like a continual flowing stream. Justice not worship was his cry, a theme that Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, (1929-1968) often mentioned, as he wanted justice to roll down from the hills like running water.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 