In an internal combustion engine, inside of an engine exhaust passage, an upstream side air-fuel ratio sensor (23), a hydrocarbon feed valve (15), an exhaust purification catalyst (13), and a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor (24) are arranged in this order from the upstream. At the time of engine operation, the injection amount of hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon feed valve (15) is controlled based on the air-fuel ratio detected by the upstream side air-fuel ratio sensor (23) and the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor (24) so that the amplitude of change of the concentration of hydrocarbons which flow into the exhaust purification catalyst (13) becomes within a predetermined range of amplitude.