New Living Translation
Amos 5:7
7You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.
Amos 5:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
- New International Version (NIV)There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
- English Standard Version (ESV)O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!
- New King James Version (NKJV)You who turn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
Context of Amos 5:7
5Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” 6Come back to the Lord and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames. You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. 8It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! 9With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.
Read all of Amos 5Amos 5:7 word by word
הַהֹפְכִ֥ים לְלַעֲנָ֖ה מִשְׁפָּ֑ט וּצְדָקָ֖ה לָאָ֥רֶץ הִנִּֽיחוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Amos 5:7
- Amos 5:11You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them.
- Amos 6:12Can horses gallop over boulders? Can oxen be used to plow them? But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
- Deuteronomy 29:18I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.
- Isaiah 1:23Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them love bribes and demand payoffs, but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows.
- Isaiah 5:7The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
- Isaiah 10:1What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.
- Isaiah 59:13We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.
- Hosea 10:4They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
- Habakkuk 1:12O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins.
- Psalms 36:3Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good.
- Psalms 125:5But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O Lord. Take them away with those who do evil. May Israel have peace!
- Ezekiel 3:20“If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.
- Ezekiel 18:24However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.
- Ezekiel 33:12“Son of man, give your people this message: The righteous behavior of righteous people will not save them if they turn to sin, nor will the wicked behavior of wicked people destroy them if they repent and turn from their sins.
- Zephaniah 1:6And I will destroy those who used to worship me but now no longer do. They no longer ask for the Lord’s guidance or seek my blessings.”
Commentaries on Amos 5:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood - Who pervert judgment; causing him who obtains his suit to mourn sorely over the expenses he has incurred in gaining his right.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7Ye who turn - Those whom he calls to seek God, were people filled with all injustice, who turned the sweetness of justice into the bitterness of wormwood. Moses had used “gall” and “wormwood” as a proverb; “lest there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him” Deuteronomy…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-17Verses 7-17 The same almighty power can, for repenting sinners, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, and as easily turn the prosperity of daring sinners into utter darkness. Evil times will not bear plain dealing; that is, evil men will not. And these men were evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain even to speak to them. Those who will seek and love that which is good, may help to save the land from ruin. It…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-17Amos delivers three prophetic messages to Israel, criticizing their mistaken belief about being God's chosen people. The messages show a progression toward judgment.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. turn judgment to wormwood--that is, pervert it to most bitter wrong. As justice is sweet, so injustice is bitter to the injured. "Wormwood" is from a Hebrew root, to "execrate," on account of its noxious and bitter qualities. leave on righteousness in ... earth--Maurer translates, "cast righteousness to the ground," as in Is 28:2; Da 8:12.Read the comment
Topics related to Amos 5:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Amos 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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