Amos 5:7

Amo 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

Ver. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood ] Ye grandees and governors of the people, that turn the sweetest thing into the sourest (as corruptio optimi pessima ), right into wrong dealing; that follow the administration of justice as a trade only, with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain; not caring what becomes of righteousness, but leaving it off in the earth, or rather not leaving it at all upon earth ( terras Astraea reliquit ), but chasing it out of the world as much as in you lieth; while you cast it down to the ground, and tread it underfoot, Daniel 8:12 , while you oppress the just, crush the needy, &c., Amos 4:1 : see the note there. Some read the text, by way of exclamation, thus: O ye that turn judgment, &c.; q.d. What strange creatures are you! what monsters of men! what public scourges! what scabs! Isaiah 5:7 , God "looked for judgment, but behold oppression" (in the original it is, behold a scab); "for righteousness, but behold a cry": such a cry as entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, Iudices instar scabiei molesti sunt oppressis (Piscator in loc.).