Amos 5:11-12

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ¹ 

and exact a grain tax from them,

you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,

nor will you drink the wine from the fine ²  vineyards you planted. ³ 

5:12 Certainly ⁴  I am aware of ⁵  your many rebellious acts ⁶ 

and your numerous sins.

You ⁷  torment the innocent, you take bribes,

and you deny justice to ⁸  the needy at the city gate. ⁹ 

Amos 6:12

6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?

Can one plow the sea with oxen? ¹⁰ 

Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,

and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 29:18

29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ¹² 

Isaiah 1:23

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ¹³ 

they associate with ¹⁴  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ¹⁵  payoffs. ¹⁶ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ¹⁷ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 5:7

5:7 Indeed ¹⁹  Israel ²⁰  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ²¹  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ²² 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ²³ 

Isaiah 10:1

10:1 Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, ²⁴ 

those who are always instituting unfair regulations, ²⁵ 

Isaiah 59:13-14

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ²⁶  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ²⁷ 

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ²⁸  stands far off.

Indeed, ²⁹  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

Hosea 10:4

10:4 They ³⁰  utter empty words, ³¹ 

taking ³²  false oaths and making empty ³³  agreements.

Therefore legal disputes sprout up

like poisonous weeds ³⁴  in the furrows of a plowed field.

Habakkuk 1:12-14

Habakkuk Voices Some Concerns

1:12 Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ³⁵ 

my sovereign God, ³⁶  you are immortal. ³⁷ 

Lord, you have made them ³⁸  your instrument of judgment. ³⁹ 

Protector, ⁴⁰  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ⁴¹ 

1:13 You are too just ⁴²  to tolerate ⁴³  evil;

you are unable to condone ⁴⁴  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ⁴⁵ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ⁴⁶  those more righteous than they are? ⁴⁷ 

1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,

like animals in the sea ⁴⁸  that have no ruler.

[5:11]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).

[5:11]  ² tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ³ tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[5:12]  ⁵ tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).

[5:12]  ⁶ tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Those who.”

[5:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).

[5:12]  ⁹ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”

[6:12]  ¹¹ sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.

[29:18]  ¹² tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (la’anah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”

[1:23]  ¹³ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ¹⁶ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ¹⁷ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ¹⁸ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[5:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ²² tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ²³ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[10:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who decree evil decrees.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[10:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[to] the writers who write out harm.” The participle and verb are in the Piel, suggesting repetitive action.

[59:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

[59:14]  ²⁸ tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ²⁹ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[10:4]  ³⁰ tc The referent of the 3rd person common plural verb דִּבְּרוּ (dibbÿru, “they speak”) is the masculine singular noun וְהַמֶּלֶךְ (vÿhammelekh, “a king” in v. 3) which is used generically, representing all human kings of Israel to which the 3rd common plural verb refers. Although this is a bit syntactically awkward, it is not necessary to emend the MT to the 3rd masculine singular verb form דָּבַר (davar, “he speaks”) as the BHS editors suggest. The LXX, however, reads the singular form λαλῶν (lalwn, “uttering”).

[10:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “they speak words.” The cognate accusative construction דִּבְּרוּ דְבָרִים (dibbÿru dÿvarim; literally, “they speak words”) is an idiom that means “they speak mere words” (so NASB; NRSV similar) or “they utter empty words” (so TEV), that is, they make empty promises (e.g., Isa 58:13; BDB 180-181 s.v. דָּבַר 2). The immediately following collocated phrase אָלוֹת שָׁוְא (’alot shavÿ’, “swearing an empty oath”) confirms this nuance. The LXX understood this idiom in the same way: λαλῶν ῥήματα προφάσειας ψευδεῖς (lalwn r{hmata profaseias yeudeis, “speaking false professions as his words”).

[10:4]  ³² tn The two infinitive absolutes אָלוֹת (’alot, Qal infinitive absolute from II אָלָה, ’alah, “to swear an oath”; BDB 46 s.v. II אָלָה) and כָּרֹת (karot, Qal infinitive absolute from כָּרַת, karat, “to make [a covenant]”; BDB 503 s.v. כָּרַת 4), which appear without conjunctions, continue the description of the action of the preceding finite verb דִּבְּרוּ (dibbÿru, Piel perfect 3rd person common plural from דָּבַר, davar, “to speak”). Although the infinitives continue the description of the action of the finite verb, they call special attention to the action of the infinitive rather than the action of the finite verb. See IBHS 595 §35.5.2b.

[10:4]  ³³ tn The word “empty” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied. It is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. TEV “useless treaties.”

[10:4]  ³⁴ tn The noun II רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) refers to a “poisonous plant” (Deut 29:17; Hos 10:4) or “bitter herb” (Ps 69:22; Lam 3:5; BDB 912 s.v. רֹאשׁ 1; HALOT 1167 s.v. רֹאשׁ 1).

[1:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O Lord?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, of course.” The present translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question, rendering it as an affirmation. When used in a temporal sense the phrase מִקֶדֶם (miqedem) means “from antiquity, ancient times,” often referring to earlier periods in Israel’s history. See its use in Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10; Mic 5:2.

[1:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “My God, my holy one.” God’s “holiness” in this context is his sovereign transcendence as the righteous judge of the world (see vv. 12b-13a), thus the translation “My sovereign God.”

[1:12]  ³⁷ tc The MT reads, “we will not die,” but an ancient scribal tradition has “you [i.e., God] will not die.” This is preferred as a more difficult reading that can explain the rise of the other variant. Later scribes who copied the manuscripts did not want to associate the idea of death with God in any way, so they softened the statement to refer to humanity.

[1:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “him,” a collective singular referring to the Babylonians. The plural pronoun “them” has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[1:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “for judgment.”

[1:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Rock” or “Cliff.” This divine epithet views God as a place where one can go to be safe from danger. The translation “Protector” conveys the force of the metaphor (cf. KJV, NEB “O mighty God”).

[1:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”

[1:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

[1:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

[1:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”

[1:14]  ⁴⁸ tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.