18 How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the Lord! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light.
19 It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall — only to be bitten by a snake!
20 The day of the Lord will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.
21 The Lord says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them!
22 When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings.
23 Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps.
24 Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.