For they have crushed and abandoned the poor; they have seized a house that they did not build.
Amos 5:12 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe and push aside the needy in the gate. More versionsKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 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. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition For I know how manifold are your transgressions and how mighty are your sins–you who afflict the [uncompromisingly] righteous, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the [court of the city] gate from their right. American Standard Version (1901) For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins—ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right. Common English Bible I know how many are your crimes, and how numerous are your sins— afflicting the righteous, taking money on the side, turning away the poor who seek help. Catholic Public Domain Version For I know your many wicked deeds and the strength of your sins, you enemies of the just, accepting bribes, and depriving the poor at the gate. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sine: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate. |
For they have crushed and abandoned the poor; they have seized a house that they did not build.
if I have raised my hand against the orphan because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of those who give it; wherever they turn they prosper.
Do not rob the poor because they are poor or crush the afflicted at the gate,
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.
to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, to make widows their spoil and to plunder orphans!
those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit, who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate and undermine justice for the one in the right.
Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, who despise the gain of oppression, who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it, who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut their eyes from looking on evil,
both these things shall come upon you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of their rights!
for I know their works and their thoughts. I am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and shall see my glory,
because they have perpetrated outrage in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them; I am the one who knows and bears witness, says the Lord.
Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives,
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me, for now, O Ephraim, you have prostituted yourself; Israel is defiled.
and those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day, says the Lord.
I will cut off the ruler from its midst and will kill all its officials with him, says the Lord.
They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood and bring righteousness to the ground!
Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
Its rulers give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, “Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us.”
Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice.
Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.
“You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people.
And when many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness because it will not be lost from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do even now, before I have brought them into the land that I promised them on oath.”
Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.
No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the next-of-kin of whom Boaz had spoken came passing by. So Boaz said, “Come over; sit down here.” And he went over and sat down.
Yet his sons did not follow in his ways but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.