Text: Amos 5:12
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 16:18-19
Subject: Bribery and perversion of justice at the gate
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Amos 5:12 charges Israel with "taking bribes" (לֹקְחֵי כֹפֶר, loqchey khofer) and depriving "the poor of justice in the gate," a precise violation of Deuteronomy 16:18-19's prohibition: "You shall not pervert justice... you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise." The verbal and conceptual overlap between the Deuteronomic prohibition and Amos's indictment confirms that Amos is measuring Israel's behavior against the concrete standards of Mosaic legislation. The prophet does not introduce new ethical categories but exposes the gap between the justice system God commanded and the corruption Israel practiced.
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Text: Deuteronomy 16:18-19
OT Text Referred to: Amos 5:12
Subject: Bribery and judicial corruption
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Deuteronomy 16:19 prohibits bribery because "a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous" (כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים, ki hashochad ye'avver 'ene chakhamim), and Amos 5:12 catalogs the exact violations: taking bribes and "turning aside the needy in the gate" (וְאֶבְיוֹנִים בַּשַּׁעַר הִטּוּ, ve'evyonim basha'ar hittu). Both texts address the gate as the judicial venue and identify bribery as the mechanism that perverts justice for the poor. Amos's specificity—naming the oppression of the righteous (צַדִּיק, tsaddiq) and the taking of ransom payments—shows prophetic prosecution that directly measures Israel against the Deuteronomic judicial code.