Bible Strands
Amos 5:12
For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet Amos to the northern kingdom of Israel, delivering a verdict immediately after condemning the elite for trampling the poor and exacting grain taxes.
The words — The Hebrew ya.Da'.ti ("I know") and pish.'ei. / cha.to.tei. ("transgressions" / "sins") state divine awareness of multiplied rebellions. Tzo.rei tza.Dik ("oppressors of the righteous") identifies the perpetrators who pervert legal proceedings.
The thread — This indictment of systemic corruption echoes Amos 2:6's declaration of irrevocable judgment for Israel's repeated transgressions and aligns with Isaiah 1:23's condemnation of rulers who accept bribes while abandoning the vulnerable.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that judicial corruption and economic exploitation are direct violations of divine law requiring accountability, not merely social grievances.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Amos 2:6 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- Amos 5:10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
- 1 Samuel 8:3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.
- Psalms 26:9 Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
- James 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Deuteronomy 31:21 And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”