Amos 5:7
in Amos 5There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,
KJV
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
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This verse in Amos 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ye who turn - Those whom he calls to seek God, were people filled with all injustice, who turned the sweetness of justice into the bitterness of wormwood . Moses had used “gall” and “wormwood” as a proverb; “lest there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him” Deu 29:18, Deu 29:
This site's exposition
those who turn justice into wormwood
on Amos 5:7-9
Verse 7 names the crime the chapter answers, the courts made bitter. The second of the book's three hymns breaks in, setting the Maker of the stars against the corrupt judges. Its close, "He flashes destruction on the strong," shows a God able to overturn any human balance of power.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
Corruptio optimi est pessima -- The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst. "You leave off righteousness in the earth, as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of heaven only, and not to the princes and judges of the earth. " Thus it was as before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence.
); enquire after him; enquire of him; seek to know his mind as your rule, to secure his favour as your felicity." To press this exhortation we are told to consider, (1.) What we shall get by seeking God; it will be our life; we shall find him, and shall be happy in him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Judgment - The righteous sentence of the law. To wormwood - Proverbially understood; bitterness, injustice and oppression. Leave off - Make to cease in your courts of judicature.
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,....
Temporary promises are made with an It may be; and our prayers must be made accordingly. Threatenings and Reproofs. 16 Therefore the L ORD , the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood - Who pervert judgment; causing him who obtains his suit to mourn sorely over the expenses he has incurred in gaining his right.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַהֹפְכִ֥ים | hahofekhim | O those [who] turn | H2015 → | 94 times |
| לְלַעֲנָ֖ה | lelaanah | into wormwood | H3939 → | |
| מִשְׁפָּ֑ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| וּצְדָקָ֖ה | utzedakah | and righteousness | H6666 → | 157 times |
| לָאָ֥רֶץ | laaretz | to the ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הִנִּֽיחוּ׃ | hinichu | they thrust down | H5117 → |
הַהֹפְכִ֥יםO those [who] turn
hahofekhimH2015 →94 times
לְלַעֲנָ֖הinto wormwood
lelaanahH3939 →
מִשְׁפָּ֑טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
וּצְדָקָ֖הand righteousness
utzedakahH6666 →157 times
לָאָ֥רֶץto the ground
laaretzH776 →2504 times
הִנִּֽיחוּ׃they thrust down
hinichuH5117 →
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
Zephaniah 1:6and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- Isaiah 1:4
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on…
- Jeremiah 15:6
You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
- Jeremiah 2:17
Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
- Hebrews 10:38–39
But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- Jeremiah 2:13
Through
Amos 6:12“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
it leads to
- Hosea 10:4
They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 10:4
Through
Deuteronomy 29:18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure…
it leads to
- Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- Deuteronomy 11:16–17
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods,
- Hebrews 12:15
Where this verse is studied
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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.