“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
Parallel translations
- WEB Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
- KJV Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
- NKJV Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into gall, And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
- NASB ¶Do horses run on rocks? Or does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
- NLT Can horses gallop over boulders? Can oxen be used to plow them? But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Just as horses do not run on cliffs or oxen plow rock, so Israel's perversion of justice into poison is unnatural and absurd. They have twisted what God made good into something deadly.
Overview
The rhetorical questions highlight how contrary to all good order it is to turn justice and righteousness into bitterness and poison. What should give life now spreads harm, an inversion of God's design. This perversion of justice calls for the restoration only Christ brings, who makes righteousness flow as God intended.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Amos 5:7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
- Hos 10:4They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
- Amos 5:11–12Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
- Isa 59:13–14rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
- Isa 48:4For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.
- 1 Kgs 21:7–13But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
- Ps 94:20–21Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?
- Jer 6:29–30The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.
- Zech 7:11–12But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Hos 10:13You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men,
- Mic 7:3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
- Jer 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Hab 1:3–4Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
- Acts 7:51–52You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 6:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.