Amos 5:25

You did not bring me ¹  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ²  of Israel.

"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?

"Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?

"Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel?

"Didn't you, dear family of Israel, worship me faithfully for forty years in the wilderness, bringing the sacrifices and offerings I commanded?

Did you come to me with offerings of beasts and meal offerings in the waste land for forty years, O Israel?

Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

"Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

You did not bring me ¹  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ²  of Israel.

¹ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

sn Like Jer 7:22-23, this passage seems to contradict the Pentateuchal accounts that indicate Israel did offer sacrifices during the wilderness period. It is likely that both Amos and Jeremiah overstate the case to emphasize the relative insignificance of sacrifices in comparison to weightier matters of the covenant. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 428.

² tn Heb “house.”