Amos 6:12

12 Horses don't run on rocky ground. People don't plow there with oxen. But you have turned fair treatment into poison. You have turned the fruit of right living into bitterness.

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 Relatives might come to burn the dead bodies. If they do, they'll have to carry them out of the house first. They might ask someone still hiding there, "Is anyone here with you?" If the answer is no, the relatives will say, "Be quiet! We must not pray in the LORD's name."

11 The LORD has already given an order. He will smash large houses to pieces. He will crush small houses to bits.

12 Horses don't run on rocky ground. People don't plow there with oxen. But you have turned fair treatment into poison. You have turned the fruit of right living into bitterness.

13 You are happy because you captured the town of Lo Debar. You say, "We were strong enough to take Karnaim too."

14 But the LORD God rules over all. He announces, "People of Israel, I will stir up a nation against you. They will crush you from Lebo Hamath all the way down to the Arabah Valley."