Amos 6:12
10 And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will answer. “Silence,” the relative will retort, “for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”
11 For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”
“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—
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’
14 For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- “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—
- 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:
- 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,
- ASV
- Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow [there] with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;
- DARBY
- Shall horses run upon the rock? will [men] plough [thereon] with oxen? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
- BLB
- “Do horses run on the rock? Or does one plow there with the oxen? Yet you⁺ have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
- ÅB
- Springer vel hestene opp fjellet, eller pløyes det der med okser? siden dere har forvendt retten til gift og rettferdighetens frukter til malurt.
- OTB
- Løper hester på steinete klipper?
Pløyer man havet med okser?
Likevel har dere gjort rettferd til gift
og rettferdighetens frukt til bitterhet— - B1930
- Springer vel hestene opefter fjellet, eller pløies det der med okser? siden I har forvendt retten til gift og rettferdighetens frukter til malurt.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Amos 5:7
There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
Read in contextHosea 10:4
They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
Read in contextAmos 5:11–12
Therefore, 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 59:13–14
rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
Read in context1 Kings 21:7–13
But 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.”
Read in contextIsaiah 48:4
For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.
Read in contextPsalms 94:20–21
Can a corrupt throne be Your ally— one devising mischief by decree?
Read in contextActs 7:51–52
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Read in context