He Who Made the Pleiades
7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! 8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name, 9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. 10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. 11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts. 13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
The pair of words the book keeps returning to appears here, and the God who orders the stars is invoked against men who disorder a courtroom.
Verse 7 names the offense in the book's characteristic pair: they turn justice to wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground. The two nouns occur together four times in Amos Amos 5:15 Amos 5:24 Amos 6:12, and they are always about the administration of law rather than private virtue. Wormwood is a bitter plant — the thing meant to be nourishing is made undrinkable.
Then verse 8 changes register completely, into astronomy. He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns deep darkness into morning and darkens the day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them on the land — Yahweh is his name. The second of the book's three creation refrains Amos 4:13 Amos 9:6.
The placement is the argument. A God who keeps the constellations in their courses and turns night to morning on schedule is being cited against men whose speciality is making things crooked. Order is his signature; disorder in a courtroom is a forgery.
Verses 10 to 12 return to that courtroom exactly. They hate the man who reproves in the gate, where cases were heard; they take bribes, afflict the righteous, and turn aside the needy at the very place he came for a hearing.
Verse 11 prices it: houses of cut stone they will not live in, vineyards whose wine they will not drink. Verse 13 is bleaker — in such a time the prudent keep quiet. The gate no longer rewards testimony.
settled What this mark means