Amos 5:12

Amo 5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right].

Ver. 12. For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins] I know them, and can easily set them in an order before your eyes, Psa 50:21, bring them out (as they did the vessels of the sanctuary) by number and by weight, Ezr 8:34 : make you answer for all with flames about your ears, lay open your many transgressions, and mighty sins, fortia peccata. The Hebrew hath it, your bony, or big boned sins; huge, heinous, and monstrous, capable of all manner of aggravations. All these I know, saith God, they are all in print in heaven, and I will one day read them aloud in the ears of all the world. Fac ergo confitendo propitium, quem tacendo non facis nescium, saith Austin. Make, therefore, God thy friend, by confessing thy sins to him, which thou canst not by any means conceal from him.

They afflict the just] They pinch and distress him by their oppressions, which are often here laid in their dish, as an abomination to the Lord; for he is merciful, see Amo 2:6.

They take a bribe] A ransom to blind their eyes (Copher), as 1Sa 12:3, or a pacification of their pretended displeasure against heinous crimes brought before them. Olim didiei quid sint munera, said a worthy man: Once I have learned long since, how dangerous a thing it is for men in place to meddle with gifts. A public person, as he should have nothing to lose, so nothing to get; he should be above all price or sale.

They turn aside the poor in the gate] That is, in the place of judicature. This makes many that go to law, to be at length of Themistocles’ mind; who professed that if two ways were shown him, one to hell, and the other to the bar, he would choose that which went to hell, and forsake the other. Another said, that he wondered much at two sorts of men; viz. those that go to sea, and those that go to law: not so much that they did so at first, but that, after trial, they would ever go a second time.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they afflict . . . they take--rather, "(ye) who afflict . . . take."

bribe--literally, a price with which one who has an unjust cause ransoms himself from your sentence (Sa1 12:3, Margin; Pro 6:35).

turn aside the poor in the gate--refuse them their right in the place of justice (Amo 2:7; Isa 29:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. I know your manifold transgressions] I have marked the multitude of your smaller crimes, as well as your mighty offenses. Among their greater offenses were,

1. Their afflicting the righteous.

2. Taking bribes to blind their eyes in judgment. And,

3. Refusing to hear the poor, who had no money to give them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet introduces God here as the speaker, that the threatening might be more authoritative: for we know, at it has been before stated, that the Prophets were despised by haughty men; but when God himself appeared as it were before them, it was strange if no fear laid hold on them; they had at least no excuse for their presumption, if God’s name did not touch their hearts and humble them.

I know, he says, your iniquities; as though he said, “Ye do not think yourselves bound to render an account to men, as probably no such account; will be rendered by you; but how will you be able, think you, to escape my tribunal? for I am your judge, and mine is the government: however ferociously ye now tread on the poor, and evasively contend with me, your crimes must necessarily be judged by me; I know your crimes. And as the rich by their splendor covered every wickedness, particularly the magistrates, who were adorned with a public character, God says that their turpitude was fully known to him: as though he said “Contend as much as you please, still your iniquities are sufficiently apparent to me; ye will gain nothing by your subtle evasions.” Moreover, he reprehends them not merely for slight offenses, but says that they were wholly past being borne with. When something is done amiss by the highest power, indulgence is commonly granted; for nothing is more difficult than for one who sustains so great and heavy a burden, to retain so much integrity as to be free from every blame: but the Lord shows here that they were not lightly culpable, but that their crimes were so grievous and flagrant that they could not be endured. We now then understand what was the object of the Prophet.

When therefore their own greatness dazzles the eyes of proud men, let us know that they cannot deprive God of his right; for though he may not judge them to-day, he will yet shortly ascend his tribunal: and he reminds them, that those pompous displays by which they cover their many crimes, are only shadows which will vanish. This is what the Prophet means.

Then he calls them, The oppressors of the just He enumerates here some particulars, with regard to which, the iniquity of the judges whom he now addresses might be, as it were, felt to be gross and abominable. Ye oppress he says, the just; this was one thing: then follows another, They take כפר, capher, expiation, or, the price of redemption. The Prophet, I have no doubt, meant to point out here something different from the former crime. Though interpreters blend these two things, I yet think them to be wholly different; for these mercenary judges made an agreement with the wicked, whenever any homicide or other violence was perpetrated; in short, whenever any one implicated himself in any grievous sin, they saw that there was a prey taken, and anxiously gaped for it: they wished murders to be committed daily, that they might acquire gain. Since, then, these judges were thus intent on bribery, the Prophet accuses them as being takers of ransom. They ought to have punished crimes; this they did not; but they let go the wicked unpunished; they spared murderers, and adulterers, and robbers, and sorcerers not indeed without rewards, for they brought the price of redemption, and departed as if they were innocent.

We now perceive what the Prophet means here; and well would it be were this crime not so common: but at this day, the cruelty of many judges appears especially in this — that they hunt for crimes for the sake of gain, which seems to be as it were a ransom; for this is the proper meaning of the word כפר, capher. As then this evil commonly prevails it is no wonder that the Prophet, while reprehending the corruptions of his time, says, that judges took a ransom.

Then he adds, The poor they turn aside from judgment in the gate This is the third crime: the Prophet complains, that they deprived miserable men of their right, because they could not bring so large a bribe as the rich; though relying on the goodness of their cause, they thought themselves sure of victory. The Prophet complains, that they were disappointed of their hope, and their right was denied them in the gate, that is, in the court of justice; for we know that it was an ancient custom for judges to sit in the gates, and there to administer justice; And hence Amos mentions here gate twice: and what he complains of was the more disgraceful, inasmuch as the judicial court was, as it were, a sacred asylum, to which injured men resorted, that they might have their wrongs redressed. When this became the den of robbers, what any more remained for them? We now then see that the Prophet speaks not here of the common people, but that he mainly levels his reproofs against the rulers. Let us go on —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) I know.—Most of the commentators imply that the “I” is Jehovah, but it is more likely to be the prophet himself. The adjectives “manifold,” “mighty,” should be rendered as predicates, That manifold are your transgressions, and mighty your sins, ye afflicters of the just and takers of a bribe, and ye who bow down the poor in the gate. The idea involved in the word rendered “bribe” is the ransom which the poor and defenceless were obliged to pay to a tyrannical judge, in order to escape a harsh sentence. The “gate” is the place where judgment is passed by the chief men.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins] Jehovah’s knowledge of what they imagine He is ignorant of (Psa_73:11; Job_22:13), is the ground of the sentence expressed in Amo_5:11.

they afflict the just] Amo_2:6, Amo_3:9 f., &c.

they take a bribe] a ransom or price of a life, the proper meaning of the word (kôpher—not shôḥad); see e.g. Exo_21:30, and especially Num_35:31, where the Israelites are strictly forbidden to “take a ransom (kôpher)” for the life of a murderer. But here the venal judges are represented as accepting such a ‘kôpher’; thus the rich murderer was acquitted, while the innocent, if unable to pay the price which the judge demanded, could get no redress for his wrongs.

turn aside the needy in the gate] The ‘gate,’ as Amo_5:10 : “turn aside” (sc. from their right, Isa_10:2), as Isa_29:21; Mal_3:5.

12–13. Israel’s desperate moral condition, a justification of the sentence just pronounced upon it.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins,.... Their sins were numerous, and of the first magnitude, attended with very heavy aggravations; and these with all their circumstances were well known to the omniscient God, and therefore he determined to punish them as he had threatened. Some of their transgressions are pointed out, as follow:

they afflict the just; who are so both in a moral and evangelic sense; not comparatively only, but really; and particularly whose cause was just, and yet were vexed and distressed by unjust judges, who gave the cause against them, made them pay all costs and charges, and severely mulcted them: they take a bribe; of those that were against the just, and gave the cause for them. The word signifies "a ransom" (f). The Targum it false mammon. Corrupt and unjust judges are here taxed:

and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right; in the court of judicature, where they should have done them justice, such courts being usually held in the gates of cities; but instead of that they perverted their judgment, and did them wrong.

(f) "pretium redemptionis", Mercerus, Liveleus, Drusius, Lytron, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For I know - Literally, “I have known.” They thought that God did not know, because He did not avenge; as the Psalmist says, “Thy judgments are far above out of his sight” Psa 10:5. People who do not act with the thought of God, cease to know Him, and forget that He knows them. “Your manifold transgressions;” literally, “many are your transgressions and mighty your sins.” Their deeds, they knew, were mighty, strong, vigorous, decided. God says, that their “sins” were so, not many and great only, but “mighty, strong” , “issuing not out of ignorance and infirmity, but out of proud strength” , “‘strong’ in the oppression of the poor and in provoking God,” and bringing down His wrath. So Asaph says of the prosperous; “Pride encompasseth them, as a chain; they are corrupt, they speak oppression wickedly; they speak from on high” Psa 73:6, Psa 73:8.

They afflict the just - Literally, “afflicters of the just,” that is, such as habitually afflicted him; whose habit and quality it was to afflict him. Our version mostly renders the word “enemies.” Originally, it signifies “afflicting, persecuting” enemies. Yet it is used also of the enemies of God, perhaps such as persecute Him in His people, or in His Son when in the flesh. The unjust hate the just, as is said in the book of Wisdom; “The ungodly said, Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn, and is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law. He profeseth to have the knowledge of God, and he calleth himself the child of the Lord. He was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous unto us even to behold, for his life is not as other people’s, his ways are of another fashion” (Wisdom Psa 2:1, Psa 2:12-15). So when the Truth and Righteousness came into the world, the Scribes and Pharisees hated Him because He reproved them, “denied” Act 3:14 and crucified “the Holy one and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto” them, haters and “enemies of the Just,” and preferring to Him the unjust.

That take a bribe - Literally, “a ransom.” It may be that, contrary to the law, which forbade, in these same words Num 35:22, “to take any ransom for the life of a murderer,” they took some ransom to set free rich murderers, and so, (as we have seen for many years to be the effect of unjust acquittals,) blood was shed with impunity, and was shed the more, because it was disregarded. The word, however, is used in one place apparently of any bribe, through which a man connives at injustice 1Sa 12:3.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Grievous. Hebrew also, "numerous."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For; wonder not at the threatened severity, as if it were too rigorous; it is but proportioned to your sins.

I, the Lord, whom you provoke, who have threatened you, know, clearly, fully, and in all the circumstances of them, what moves you to do so, what pretences of law you make: all your evasions are vain and foolish.

Your manifold transgressions; the increased number of your sins, and the greatness of them too, as the word importeth.

Your mighty sins; which mightily wrong and break the poor and needy.

They afflict, besiege, or with hostile minds watch against, and gladly take any occasion to wrong and grieve, the just; not absolutely and sinlessly just, but such as are comparatively just, or those whose cause is just, or those that live with regard to all the commands of God, and follow righteousness: it was the mighty sin of the corrupt rulers in Samaria and Israel at that day, that they were enemies to all righteousness.

They take a bribe; in civil causes bribes carried it; see Amo 2:6; here bribes set criminals free, a ransom. as the word in the Hebrew, buys off the punishment appointed by the law against murderers, adulterers, &c.

They turn aside the poor in the gate; the poor, who appear in their courts for justice, they turn them away, or delay to hear, or hear and judge unjustly, and so send them away wronged and crying.

From their right: these words fully express the prophet’s meaning, and are therefore well supplied in our version.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Your punishment is richly deserved, for "I know how many are your transgressions and how mighty are your sins," especially, as it follows, your sins of oppression and injustice. They afflict the just. The construction is continuous: "afflicters of the just." Hostes justi (Vulgate); katapatountev dikaion, "trampling down the just" (Septuagint); comp. RAPC Wis 2:12-15. They take a bribe. The translation of kopher as "bribe" is justified, perhaps, by 1Sa_12:3; but the word is elsewhere used for "ransom," redemption money paid to escape the consequences of crime, (Pro_6:35) in direct opposition to the Law innontev Num_35:31, which forbade any ransom to be taken for the life of a murderer. The Septuagint has, lamba) ajllagmata "taking wares;" the Vulgate (with which the Syriac agrees), accipientes munus. Turn aside the poor in the gate from their right; or, bow down the needy in the gate, i.e. in the place of judgment (see note on ver. 10). Vulgate, pauperes deprimentes in porta; Septuagint, penhtav ejn pulaiv ejkklinontev, "turning aside the poor in the gates." The crime specified is that of wresting judgment in the case of the poor, or not giving the poor man justice unless he could pay for it. (comp. Exo_23:6; Deu_16:19)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the gate - In their courts of justice.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

afflict the just, take bribes, and turn aside the needy in the city gate

This is a list of some of their sins.

the just

The word "just" is a nominal adjective that refers to just people. AT: "just people" or "righteous people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

take bribes

"let people pay you to do bad things" or "let people pay you to lie about people"

turn aside the needy in the city gate

Here "turn aside the needy" represents telling the needy people to leave. It can be made clear why the needy were at the city gate. AT: "do not allow poor people to bring their cases to the judges in the city gate" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the needy

The word "needy" is a nominal adjective that refers to people who are in need. AT: "people in need" (See: Nominal Adjectives)

any prudent person is silent

Those who do not want the evil people to harm them will not speak out against the evil deeds. AT: "wise people do not speak about the evil things people are doing"

for it is an evil time

Here "an evil time" represents a time when people are evil and do evil deeds. AT: "for it is a time when people are evil" or "for people do evil things" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

sin

afflicted

just

bribe

gate

evil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

you who oppress the just—[Jonathan renders:] who oppress the innocent.

turning aside... in the gate—In the gates of your courts, they turned aside the judgment of the needy.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.