Amos 5:7

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, And cast down righteousness to the eretz:

Amos 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 5:7

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood
This seems to be spoken to kings and judges, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe; in whose hands is the administration of justice, and who often pervert it, as these did here addressed and complained of; that which was the most useful and salubrious, and so the most desirable to the commonwealth, namely, just judgment, was changed into the reverse, what was as bitter and as disagreeable as wormwood; or "hemlock", as it might be rendered, and as it is in ( Amos 6:12 ) ; even injustice: and leave off righteousness in the earth;
leave off doing it among men: or rather, "leave [it] on the earth" ^F3; who cast it down to the ground, trampled upon it, and there left it; which is expressive not only of their neglect, but of their contempt of it; see ( Daniel 8:12 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (wxynh) "in terram prosterunt", Piscator; "justitiam in terram reliquerunt, i.e. humi prosternitis et deseritis", Mercerus; "collocantes humi", Junius & Tremellius.

Amos 5:7 In-Context

5 But don't seek Beit-El, Nor enter into Gilgal, And don't pass to Be'er-Sheva: For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Beit-El shall come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live; Lest he break out like fire in the house of Yosef, And it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Beit-El.

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, And cast down righteousness to the eretz:

8 Seek him who made the Kima and Kesil, And turns the shadow of death into the morning, And makes the day dark with night; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the surface of the eretz, the LORD is his name,

9 Who brings sudden destruction on the strong, So that destruction comes on the fortress.