Isaiah 3:5

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly;

men will oppose each other;

neighbors will fight. ¹ 

Youths will proudly defy the elderly

and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Ezekiel 22:29

22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ³ 

Amos 2:7

2:7 They trample ⁴  on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; ⁵ 

they push the destitute away. ⁶ 

A man and his father go to the same girl; ⁷ 

in this way they show disrespect ⁸  for my moral purity. ⁹ 

Amos 3:9

Samaria Will Fall

3:9 Make this announcement in ¹⁰  the fortresses of Ashdod

and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt.

Say this:

“Gather on the hills around Samaria! ¹¹ 

Observe the many acts of violence ¹²  taking place within the city, ¹³ 

the oppressive deeds ¹⁴  occurring in it.” ¹⁵ 

Amos 4:1

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹⁶  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ¹⁷  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ¹⁸  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ¹⁹ 

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ²⁰ 

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 ²¹  vineyards you planted. ²² 

Micah 2:1

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, ²³ 

those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. ²⁴ 

As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, ²⁵ 

because they have the power to do so.

Micah 3:1-3

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ²⁶  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ²⁷  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ²⁸ 

3:2 yet you ²⁹  hate what is good, ³⁰ 

and love what is evil. ³¹ 

You flay my people’s skin ³² 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ³³ 

3:3 You ³⁴  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ³⁵  –

like meat in a kettle.

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ³⁶  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ³⁷ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ³⁸ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ³⁹ 

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ⁴⁰  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ⁴¹  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ⁴²  who refuse to help ⁴³  the immigrant ⁴⁴  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

James 5:4

5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “man against man, and a man against his neighbor.”

[3:5]  ² tn Heb “and those lightly esteemed those who are respected.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) does double duty in the parallelism.

[22:29]  ³ tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Most scholars now understand this verb as derived from the root II שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to crush; to trample”), an alternate form of שׁוּף (shuf), rather than from I שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to pant, to gasp”; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB).

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who stomp on the dirt of the ground on the head of the poor.” It is possible to render the line as “they trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the ground,” thereby communicating that the poor are being stepped on in utter contempt (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 79-80). The participial form הַשֹּׁאֲפִים (hasho’afim) is substantival and stands in apposition to the pronominal suffix on מִכְרָם (mikhram, v. 6b).

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “they turn aside the way of the destitute.” Many interpreters take “way” to mean “just cause” and understand this as a direct reference to the rights of the destitute being ignored. The injustice done to the poor is certainly in view, but the statement is better taken as a word picture depicting the powerful rich pushing the “way of the poor” (i.e., their attempt to be treated justly) to the side. An even more vivid picture is given in Amos 5:12, where the rich are pictured as turning the poor away from the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).

[2:7]  ⁷ sn Most interpreters see some type of sexual immorality here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), even though the Hebrew phrase הָלַךְ אֶל (halakh ’el, “go to”) never refers elsewhere to sexual intercourse. (The usual idiom is בוֹא אֶל [bo’ ’el]. However, S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 82) attempts to develop a linguistic case for a sexual connotation here.) The precise identification of the “girl” in question is not clear. Some see the referent as a cultic prostitute (cf. NAB; v. 8 suggests a cultic setting), but the term נַעֲרָה (na’arah) nowhere else refers to a prostitute. Because of the contextual emphasis on social oppression, some suggest the exploitation of a slave girl is in view. H. Barstad argues that the “girl” is the hostess at a pagan מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh) banquet (described at some length in 6:4-7). In his view the sin described here is not sexual immorality, but idolatry (see H. Barstad, The Religious Polemics of Amos [VTSup], 33-36). In this case, one might translate, “Father and son go together to a pagan banquet.” In light of this cultic context, F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman argue that this is a reference to a specific female deity (“the Girl”) and correlate this verse with 8:14 (Amos [AB], 318-19).

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Or “pollute”; “desecrate”; “dishonor.”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “my holy name.” Here “name” is used metonymically for God’s moral character or reputation, while “holy” has a moral and ethical connotation.

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “on” or “over” (also later in this verse).

[3:9]  ¹¹ sn Samaria might refer here both to the region and to the capital city (later known as Sebaste). On the other hand, there actually are hills that surround the mound upon which the city was built. The implication is that the nations can come and sit and see from those hills the sin of the capital city and its judgment.

[3:9]  ¹² tn The Hebrew noun carries the nuance of “panic” or “confusion.” Here it refers metonymically to the violent deeds that terrorize the oppressed.

[3:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “in her midst” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “among her people.”

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn The translation assumes the form is an abstract plural (see Job 35:9; Eccl 4:1). Another option is to understand the form as a substantival passive participle and translate, “the oppressed” (so KJV).

[3:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “within her.”

[4:1]  ¹⁶ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “their.”

[4:1]  ¹⁹ sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).

[5:11]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ²² 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.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”

[3:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ³¹ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ³² tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ³³ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ³⁵ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[7:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ³⁹ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

[3:5]  ⁴⁰ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”