Amos 6:12

12 Do horses run on rocks, or does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and [the] fruit of righteousness into wormwood!

Amos 6:12 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 6:12

Shall horses run upon the rocks? or will [one] plough [there]
with oxen?
&c.] Will any man be so weak and foolish, to propose or attempt a race for horses upon rocks, where they and their riders would be in danger of breaking their necks? or would any man act so unwise a part, as to take a yoke of oxen to plough with them upon a rock, where no impression can be made? as vain and fruitless a thing it would be to attempt to bring such persons under a conviction of their sins, and to repentance for them, and reformation from them, who are given up to a judicial hardness of heart, like that of a rock, as are the persons described in the next clause; or as such methods with horses and oxen would be contrary to all the rules of reason and prudence, so as contrary a part do such persons act whose characters are next given, and there is no probability of bringing them to better sense and practice of things; for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness
into hemlock;
that which would be beneficial to a nation, than which nothing is more so, as the exercise of justice, and judgment, into that which is bitter and pernicious to it, as injustice and oppression; see ( Amos 5:7 ) .

Amos 6:12 In-Context

10 And [if] one's relative, who burns [the body], lifts it up and brings the body out of the house and he will say to someone in the innermost part of the house, "[Are there] any more with you?" and he will say, "None," then he will say, "Silence," because [we] must not invoke the name of Yahweh.

11 Look, Yahweh [is] going to command and the great house will be destroyed [to] bits and the little house [to] pieces.

12 Do horses run on rocks, or does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and [the] fruit of righteousness into wormwood!

13 [You] who rejoice over Lo-Debar, who say, "Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves by our strength?"

14 Indeed, I [am] going to raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, {declares} Yahweh, the God of hosts. And they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath up to the wadi of the Arabah.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "does one plow them with oxen"