Amos 5:7 (DBY)

Passage

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

Nearby Context

Amos 5:5 And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Amos 5:6 Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and there be none to quench [it] in Bethel.

Amos 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

Amos 5:8 [seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name.

Amos 5:9 He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "turn", "judgment", "wormwood", "cast", "down", "righteousness", and "earth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "turn" and "judgment", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "Seek Jehovah and ye shall live lest..." into verse 8's "seek him that made the Pleiades and...", so "turn" and "judgment" 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 "turn" and "judgment" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.