Amos 5:24

But let judgments run down as waters,.... Or "roll" (o); in abundance, with great rapidity, bearing down all before them, which nothing can resist; signifying the plenty of justice done in the land,

But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. But let judgment - justice. Run down - literally, roll, i:e., flow abundantly (Isaiah 48:18).

But, Heb. And judgment: some interpret this of penal judgment, by God threatened against these hypocrites; but it is better understood of justice to be administered by rulers, whose office it was to determine between party and party. Run down as waters; freely, constantly, speedily, and for common benefit of all, as waters run. Righteousness; equity, relieving justice, the want of which hath been notorious among you. As a mighty stream, which bears down all that opposeth it: be hindered by none from doing every one right; do this, and you may yet be accepted.

Amos 5:24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.Ver. 24. But let judgment run down] Heb. roll down freely, plentifully, and plainly, ut devolutus monte praecipiti torrens, as the great billows of the sea, or as waves rolling over rocks, so let judgment and equity be constantly and vigorously administered and executed. And righteousness as a mighty stream] That comes with a force, and bears down all before it. Fiat iustitia, runt orbis, Let justice be done whatever come of it. The sun might as soon be turned out of his course as Fabricius out of the track of truth and justice, saith the historian. How much better might this have been said of Job, Moses, Phineas, Nehemiah, &c., famous in their generations for brandishing the sword of justice against the friends of Baal, Balaam, and Bacchus, for turning the wheel over all such roaring monsters, such lewd and lawless Belialists, as, hardened with impunity, dare oppose with crest and breast whosoever or whatsoever standeth in the way of their wicked lusts and practices. Oh this was better than burnt offerings without this; this was that actual, magisterial, and majestic kind of devotion, that pleased God far better than an "ox that hath horns and hoofs."

(24) Mighty stream.—Or rather perennial stream.

Verse 24. Let judgment run down] Let the execution of justice be everywhere like the showers that fall upon the land to render it fertile; and let righteousness in heart and life be like a mighty river, or the Jordan, that shall wind its course through the whole nation, and carry every abomination into the Dead Sea. Let justice and righteousness prevail everywhere, and sweep their contraries out of the land.

24. Justice, between man and man, is what Jehovah demands: no ceremonial, however punctiliously observed, is a substitute in Jehovah’s eyes for moral duties. The argument is exactly that of Isaiah 1, where Jehovah rejects similarly the entire body of ritual observances, celebrated at the Temple of Jerusalem, on account of the moral shortcomings of the worshippers; and where the exhortation is similarly to observe the elementary duties of civic morality—“Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes: seek judgement, set right the oppressor, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:10-17). run down] roll on; R.V. roll down: let justice, which has hitherto been too often thwarted and obstructed in its course, roll on, as waters, in one perpetual flow; and righteousness as an overflowing stream. Stream is in the Heb. naḥ ?al, a word for which there is no proper English equivalent, but which corresponds really to the Arabic wβdy, so often found in descriptions of travel in Palestine. The naḥ ?al, or wβdy, is a torrent running down through a narrow valley, which in the rainy season forms usually a copious stream, while in summer it may be reduced to a mere brook or thread of water, or may even be entirely dry. Righteousness, Jehovah claims, should roll on like a perennial (or ever-flowing) wβdy, like a wβdy which is never so dried up, but flows continuously. The word rendered ever-flowing (κthβn) is the term applied specially to characterize such a perennial wβdy. It is one of the words (like hibhlξg, Amos 5:9), of which the true meaning was lost by the Jews, and was recovered only when Arabic began to be compared systematically with Hebrew, some two centuries ago. The renderings strong, mighty, strength, are in reality guesses made from the context by the mediζval Jewish commentators, whom the translators of the Authorised Version often followed as their guide. Examples of the word: Exodus 14:27 (see R.V. marg.), Psalms 74:15; and in a metaphorical sense, Jeremiah 5:15 (of a nation whose numbers are never diminished), Jeremiah 49:19 and Numbers 24:21 (of an abiding, never-failing habitation). Others understand judgement and righteousness here of God’s punitive justice (cf. Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 5:16; Isaiah 28:17; and for the figure, Isaiah 10:22 “a consumption, overflowing with righteousness”); but the former interpretation, which is the usual one, is more agreeable with the context.

But - (And) let judgment run down (Literally, “roll” English margin) “like water.” The duties of either table include both; since there is no true love for man without the love of God, nor any real

21-25. The popular service is an abomination to Jehovah. The prophet represents Jehovah as out of sympathy with and even hostile to the popular worship. In what sense this is to be understood see on Hosea 6:6.