Amos 5:7
7. 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 Isa 28:2; Da 8:12.Amos 5:10
10. him that rebuketh in the gate—the judge who condemns their iniquity in the place of judgment (Isa 29:21).
abhor him that speaketh uprightly—the prophet telling them the unwelcome truth: answering in the parallelism to the judge, "that rebuketh in the gate" (compare 1Ki 22:8; Pr 9:8; 12:1; Jer 36:23).Amos 5:12
12. 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 (1Sa 12:3, Margin; Pr 6:35). turn aside the poor in the gate—refuse them their right in the place of justice (Am 2:7; Isa 29:21).
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