Ezekiel 22:27

22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit.

Proverbs 28:8

28:8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest ¹ 

gathers it for someone who is gracious ²  to the needy.

Isaiah 33:15

33:15 The one who lives ³  uprightly ⁴ 

and speaks honestly;

the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures

and rejects a bribe; ⁵ 

the one who does not plot violent crimes ⁶ 

and does not seek to harm others ⁷  –

Jeremiah 5:26-27

5:26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people.

They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. ⁸ 

They set deadly traps ⁹  to catch people.

5:27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, ¹⁰ 

their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. ¹¹ 

That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. ¹² 

Jeremiah 7:9-11

7:9 You steal. ¹³  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ¹⁴  other gods whom you have not previously known. 7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹⁵  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ¹⁶  7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ¹⁷  is to be a hideout for robbers? ¹⁸  You had better take note! ¹⁹  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Amos 2:6-8

God Will Judge Israel

2:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions ²⁰  –

make that four! ²¹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ²² 

They sold the innocent ²³  for silver,

the needy for a pair of sandals. ²⁴ 

2:7 They trample ²⁵  on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; ²⁶ 

they push the destitute away. ²⁷ 

A man and his father go to the same girl; ²⁸ 

in this way they show disrespect ²⁹  for my moral purity. ³⁰ 

2:8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;

they do so right ³¹  beside every altar!

They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;

they do so right in the temple ³²  of their God! ³³ 

Amos 3:10

3:10 “They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.)

“They store up ³⁴  the spoils of destructive violence ³⁵  in their fortresses.

Amos 8:4-6

8:4 Listen to this, you who trample ³⁶  the needy,

and do away with ³⁷  the destitute in the land.

8:5 You say,

“When will the new moon festival ³⁸  be over, ³⁹  so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end, ⁴⁰  so we can open up the grain bins? ⁴¹ 

We’re eager ⁴²  to sell less for a higher price, ⁴³ 

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! ⁴⁴ 

8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ⁴⁵ 

a pair of sandals ⁴⁶  for the needy!

We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ⁴⁷ 

Micah 2:1-3

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, ⁴⁸ 

those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. ⁴⁹ 

As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, ⁵⁰ 

because they have the power to do so.

2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,

and seize the houses they want. ⁵¹ 

They defraud people of their homes, ⁵² 

and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ⁵³ 

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ⁵⁴ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ⁵⁵ 

You will no longer ⁵⁶  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Micah 6:10-11

6:10 “I will not overlook, ⁵⁷  O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, ⁵⁸ 

or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. ⁵⁹ 

6:11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales,

or a bag of deceptive weights. ⁶⁰ 

Micah 6:1

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ⁶¹  before the mountains! ⁶² 

Present your case before the hills!” ⁶³ 

Micah 4:6

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ⁶⁴ 

[28:8]  ¹ tn Heb “by interest and increase” (so ASV; NASB “by interest and usury”; NAB “by interest and overcharge.” The two words seem to be synonyms; they probably form a nominal hendiadys, meaning “by increasing [exorbitant] interest.” The law prohibited making a commission or charging interest (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:20; Ps 15:5). If the poor needed help, the rich were to help them – but not charge them interest.

[28:8]  ² tn The term חוֹנֵן (khonen, “someone who shows favor”) is the active participle.

[33:15]  ³ tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).

[33:15]  ⁴ tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”

[33:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”

[33:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”

[33:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”

[5:26]  ⁸ tn The meaning of the last three words is uncertain. The pointing and meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “hiding in ambush” is debated. BDB relates the form (כְּשַׁךְ, kÿshakh) to a root שָׁכַךְ (shakhakh), which elsewhere means “decrease, abate” (cf. BDB 1013 s.v. שָׁכַךְ), and notes that this is usually understood as “like the crouching of fowlers,” but they say this meaning is dubious. HALOT 1345 s.v. I שׁוֹר questions the validity of the text and offers three proposals; the second appears to create the least textual modification, i.e., reading כְּשַׂךְ (kesakh, “as in the hiding place of (bird catchers)”; for the word שַׂךְ (sakh) see HALOT 1236 s.v. שׂךְ 4 and compare Lam 2:6 for usage. The versions do not help. The Greek does not translate the first two words of the line. The proposal given in HALOT is accepted with some hesitancy.

[5:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “a destroying thing.”

[5:27]  ¹⁰ tn The words, “that have been caught” are not in the text but are implicit in the comparison.

[5:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are filled with deceit.” The translation assumes a figure of speech of cause for effect (metonymy). Compare the same word in the same figure in Zeph 1:9.

[5:27]  ¹² tn Heb “therefore they have gotten great and rich.”

[7:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.

[7:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[7:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Behold!”

[2:6]  ²⁰ tn For this translation see the note at 2:4.

[2:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Israel, even because of four.”

[2:6]  ²² tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[2:6]  ²³ tn Or “honest” (CEV, NLT). The Hebrew word sometimes has a moral-ethical connotation, “righteous, godly,” but the parallelism (note “poor”) suggests a socio-economic or legal sense here. The practice of selling debtors as slaves is in view (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:35-55; Deut 15:12-18) See the note at Exod 21:8 and G. C. Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup). Probably the only “crime” the victim had committed was being unable to pay back a loan or an exorbitant interest rate on a loan. Some have suggested that this verse refers to bribery in legal proceedings: The innocent are “sold” in the sense that those in power pay off the elders or judges for favorable decisions (5:12; cf. Exod 23:6-7).

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn Perhaps the expression “for a pair of sandals” indicates a relatively small price or debt. Some suggest that the sandals may have been an outward token of a more substantial purchase price. Others relate the sandals to a ritual attached to the transfer of property, signifying here that the poor would be losing their inherited family lands because of debt (Ruth 4:7; cf. Deut 25:8-10). Still others emend the Hebrew form slightly to נֶעְלָם (ne’lam, “hidden thing”; from the root עָלַם, ’alam, “to hide”) and understand this as referring to a bribe.

[2:7]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Or “pollute”; “desecrate”; “dishonor.”

[2:7]  ³⁰ 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.

[2:8]  ³¹ tn The words “They do so right” are supplied twice in the translation of this verse for clarification.

[2:8]  ³² tn Heb “house.”

[2:8]  ³³ tn Or “gods.” The Hebrew term אֱלֹהֵיהֶם (’elohehem) may be translated “their gods” (referring to pagan gods), “their god” (referring to a pagan god, cf. NAB, NIV, NLT), or “their God” (referring to the God of Israel, cf. NASB, NRSV).

[3:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “those who.”

[3:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “violence and destruction.” The expression “violence and destruction” stand metonymically for the goods the oppressors have accumulated by their unjust actions.

[8:4]  ³⁶ tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.

[8:4]  ³⁷ tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”

[8:5]  ³⁸ sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.

[8:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “pass by.”

[8:5]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[8:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.

[8:5]  ⁴² tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.

[8:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”

[8:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”

[8:6]  ⁴⁶ tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.

[8:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”

[2:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”

[2:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”

[2:2]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:3]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “you will not.”

[6:10]  ⁵⁷ tn The meaning of the first Hebrew word in the line is unclear. Possibly it is a combination of the interrogative particle and אִשׁ (’ish), an alternate form of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is/are”). One could then translate literally, “Are there treasures of sin [in] the house of the sinful?” The translation assumes an emendation to הַאֶשֶּׁה (ha’esheh, from נָשָׁא, nasha’, “to forget”), “Will I forget?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I will not forget.”

[6:10]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the treasures of sin”; NASB “treasures of wickedness”; NIV “ill-gotten treasures.”

[6:10]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “the accursed scant measure.”

[6:11]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Do I acquit sinful scales, and a bag of deceptive weights?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I do not,” and has been translated as a declarative statement for clarity and emphasis.

[6:1]  ⁶¹ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  ⁶² sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ⁶³ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[4:6]  ⁶⁴ sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.