Amos 5:12
in Amos 5For 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Amos 5
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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). […]
This site's exposition
who reproves in the gate
on Amos 5:10-13
The gate was the court, and "those who hate the one who reproves in the gate" are the officials meant to protect the poor. The "stone houses you have built" and the "lush vineyards you have planted" go unused, the covenant curse of Deuteronomy 28:30 and 39.
This site's exposition
For I know that your transgressions are many
Albert Barnes notes that the Hebrew reads I have known, since Israel thought God did not know because He had not punished. He reads the second phrase as mighty sins, as strong as the deeds the people were proud of. Bribes turn the gate against the righteous and the poor.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11 and following) Therefore, because you plundered the poor and took the choice spoil from them, you will build houses of cut stone but not live in them. You will plant pleasant vineyards but not drink their wine, for I know your many crimes and powerful sins, you who oppress the righteous and take bribes, and push aside the needy in the gate. Therefore, the wise will be silent in that time, for it is an evil time.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): They afflict the just, by turning the edge of the law and of the sword of justice against those that are the innocent and quiet in the land; they hated men because they were more righteous than themselves, and he that departed from evil thereby made himself a prey to them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
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.
(2.) That some of them are very heinous; they are our mighty sins; sins that are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by being committed presumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the light of nature, flagrant crimes, that are mighty to overpower your convictions and to pull down judgments upon you.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
you who oppress the just —[ Jonathan renders:] who oppress the innocent.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
the prudent —Whoever is wise shall keep silent when the evil comes, and he shall not criticize the Divine standard of justice, for they did all these.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָדַ֙עְתִּי֙ | yada'ti | I know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| רַבִּ֣ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| פִּשְׁעֵיכֶ֔ם | pisheikhem | transgressions your | H6588 → | 93 times |
| וַעֲצֻמִ֖ים | vaatzumim | and numerous | H6099 → | |
| חַטֹּֽאתֵיכֶ֑ם | chatoteikhem | sins your | H2403 → | |
| צֹרְרֵ֤י | tzorerei | O opposers of | H6887 → | |
| צַדִּיק֙ | tzadik | [the] righteous | H6662 → | |
| לֹ֣קְחֵי | lokechei | O takers of | H3947 → | 966 times |
| כֹ֔פֶר | khofer | ransom | H3724 → | |
| וְאֶבְיוֹנִ֖ים | veevyonim | and needy [people] | H34 → | 61 times |
| בַּשַּׁ֥עַר | bashaar | in the gate | H8179 → | 374 times |
| הִטּֽוּ׃ | hitu | they turn aside | H5186 → | 214 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יָדַ֙עְתִּי֙I know
yada'tiH3045 →945 times
רַבִּ֣יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
פִּשְׁעֵיכֶ֔םtransgressions your
pisheikhemH6588 →93 times
וַעֲצֻמִ֖יםand numerous
vaatzumimH6099 →
חַטֹּֽאתֵיכֶ֑םsins your
chatoteikhemH2403 →
צֹרְרֵ֤יO opposers of
tzorereiH6887 →
צַדִּיק֙[the] righteous
tzadikH6662 →
לֹ֣קְחֵיO takers of
lokecheiH3947 →966 times
כֹ֔פֶרransom
khoferH3724 →
וְאֶבְיוֹנִ֖יםand needy [people]
veevyonimH34 →61 times
בַּשַּׁ֥עַרin the gate
bashaarH8179 →374 times
הִטּֽוּ׃they turn aside
hituH5186 →214 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
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…
it leads to
- James 5:8–9
You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Deuteronomy 5:11
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- 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 27:19
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- James 5:8–9
Through
Amos 5:10There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:8
The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son…
- Isaiah 29:21
those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
- 1 Kings 22:8
Through
Isaiah 1:23Your 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.
it leads to
- Micah 7:3
Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
- Micah 7:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Amos
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.