Amos 5:10-13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 5:10-13
Gate Truth Is Hated While the Poor Are Burdened
Gate institutions punish truthful correction, extract from poor people, take bribes, and turn needy claimants aside; elite houses and vineyards therefore offer no secure enjoyment.
Why this sits here
The abstract charge against justice becomes a concrete account of speech suppression, extraction, bribery, and blocked legal access.
How the passage moves
Gate rebuke and upright speech are hated.
The poor bear exactions while elites build stone houses and desirable vineyards.
Afflictions, sins, bribes, and exclusion of the poor are known.
The evil time can make prudent people keep silence.
What the author is communicating
A needed correction
Reading Amos 5:10-13 inside Amos's complete judgment-restoration movement rules out these uses:
The prudent-silence line does not require victims or whistleblowers to remain silent for leaders' comfort.
The non-enjoyment sentence does not authorize vandalism, theft, or envy of every substantial home.
The passage does not teach that every wealthy person committed bribery without evidence.
What remains true
Justice fails when truthful speech is punished and access depends on wealth or influence.
How this should shape us
How should this shape us today?
Protect complainants, publish conflicts, prohibit bribes, and make hearings accessible without coercing vulnerable testimony.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 5:10-13 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Movement 1
Gate rebuke and upright speech are hated.
Movement 2
The poor bear exactions while elites build stone houses and desirable vineyards.
Movement 3
Afflictions, sins, bribes, and exclusion of the poor are known.
Movement 4
The evil time can make prudent people keep silence.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Israel, Judah, empire, land, and the limits of reconstruction
City gates hosted legal and commercial activity. Dressed-stone houses and choice vineyards represent concentrated benefit, but archaeology cannot identify the individuals addressed.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material alternatives
KJV 'burdens of wheat' may describe a grain levy or exacted tax. 'Prudent shall keep silence' may report dangerous conditions rather than command moral silence.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Amos among Israel's Scriptures
Torah prohibits bribes, partiality, and turning aside poor litigants; Amos shows how these violations interact with property accumulation.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical connections
The silencing atmosphere answers 2:12 and prepares Amaziah's attempt to expel Amos in 7:10-17.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The wheat levy, social groups, silence line, and whether loss is legal reversal or coming invasion are debated; bribery and poor-person exclusion are explicit.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The LORD knows multiplied affliction and the institutional route by which poor claimants are excluded.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit contributes to Amos's movement from judgment through contested hope to covenant mercy: Gate institutions punish truthful correction, extract from poor people, take bribes, and turn needy claimants aside; elite houses and vineyards therefore offer no secure enjoyment.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The prudent-silence line does not require victims or whistleblowers to remain silent for leaders' comfort.
A vivid line can feel easier to reuse than the whole oracle's historical target and literary movement.
When a gate punishes correction and prices poor people out of justice, visible prosperity rests on an evil time.
Justice fails when truthful speech is punished and access depends on wealth or influence.
The prudent-silence line does not require victims or whistleblowers to remain silent for leaders' comfort.
The non-enjoyment sentence does not authorize vandalism, theft, or envy of every substantial home.
A strong prophetic claim can be detached from the LORD's role and the text's protection of harmed people.
When a gate punishes correction and prices poor people out of justice, visible prosperity rests on an evil time.
Justice fails when truthful speech is punished and access depends on wealth or influence.
The non-enjoyment sentence does not authorize vandalism, theft, or envy of every substantial home.
The passage does not teach that every wealthy person committed bribery without evidence.
Readers may prefer a modern slogan where the passage preserves textual, historical, or ethical limits.
When a gate punishes correction and prices poor people out of justice, visible prosperity rests on an evil time.
Justice fails when truthful speech is punished and access depends on wealth or influence.
The passage does not teach that every wealthy person committed bribery without evidence.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 5:10-13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 5:10-13
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1713-1716, translation and notes on 5:10-13
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 585-587, discussion of 5:10-13
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 5:10-13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 5:10-13
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1713-1716, translation and notes on 5:10-13
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 585-587, discussion of 5:10-13
Open source ↗