Justin Martyr — Dialogue with Trypho 22

Justin: And that you may learn that it was for the sins of your own nation, and for their idolatries and not because there was any necessity for such sacrifices , that they were likewise enjoined, listen to the manner in which He speaks of these by Amos, one of the twelve, saying: 'Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is this day of the Lord for you? It is darkness and not light, as when a man flees from the face of a lion, and a bear meets him; and he goes into his house, and leans his hands against the wall, and the serpent bites him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it?

I have hated , I have despised your feast-days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies: wherefore, though you offer Me your burnt-offerings and sacrifices , I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your presence. Take away from Me the multitude of your songs and psalms; I will not hear your instruments. But let judgment be rolled down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent. Have you offered unto Me victims and sacrifices in the wilderness, O house of Israel ? Says the Lord. And have you taken up the tabernacle of Moloch , and the star of your god Raphan, the figures which you made for yourselves? And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the Almighty God .

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria : those who are named among the chiefs have plucked away the first-fruits of the nations: the house of Israel have entered for themselves. Pass all of you unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go unto Hamath the great, and go down thence to Gath of the strangers, the noblest of all these kingdoms, if their boundaries are greater than your boundaries.

You who come to the evil day, who are approaching, and who hold to false Sabbaths ; who lie on beds of ivory, and are at ease upon their couches; who eat the lambs out of the flock, and the sucking calves out of the midst of the herd; who applaud at the sound of the musical instruments; they reckon them as stable, and not as fleeting, who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.