Amos 5:12 (DBY)

Passage

For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate.

Nearby Context

Amos 5:10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

Amos 5:11 Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.

Amos 5:12 For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate.

Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time.

Amos 5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "transgressions", "manifold", "sins", "mighty", "afflict", "just", "take", and "bribe". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "transgressions" and "manifold", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the..." into verse 13's "Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in...", so "transgressions" and "manifold" belong inside that flow. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "transgressions" and "manifold" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.