Amos 6:12

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Can horses run on rocky cliffs? Can one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant, and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Amos 5:7 : 7 The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.
  • Amos 5:11-12 : 11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted. 12 Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.
  • Hos 10:4 : 4 They utter empty words, taking false oaths and making empty agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a plowed field.
  • 1 Kgs 21:7-9 : 7 His wife Jezebel said to him,“You are the king of Israel! Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.” 8 She wrote out orders, signed Ahab’s name to them, and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders to the leaders and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. 9 This is what she wrote:“Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people. 10 Also seat two villains opposite him and have them testify,‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” 11 The men of the city, the leaders and the nobles who lived there, followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them. 12 They observed a time of fasting and put Naboth in front of the people. 13 The two villains arrived and sat opposite him. Then the villains testified against Naboth right before the people, saying,“Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they dragged him outside the city and stoned him to death.
  • Isa 59:13-14 : 13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the LORD; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. 14 Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter.
  • Jer 5:3 : 3 LORD, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways.
  • Jer 6:29-30 : 29 The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. The process of refining them has proved useless. The wicked have not been purged. 30 They are regarded as‘rejected silver’ because the LORD rejects them.”
  • Ps 94:20-21 : 20 Cruel rulers are not your allies, those who make oppressive laws. 21 They conspire against the blameless, and condemn to death the innocent.
  • Isa 48:4 : 4 I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze.
  • Mic 7:3 : 3 They are experts at doing evil; government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men announce what they wish and then they plan it out.
  • Hab 1:3-4 : 3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife. 4 For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted.
  • Zech 7:11-12 : 11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had poured out great wrath.
  • Acts 7:51-52 : 51 “You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did! 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!
  • Hos 10:13 : 13 But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your chariots; you have relied on your many warriors.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Amos 5:7
    78%

    7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.

  • Hos 10:4
    75%

    4They utter empty words, taking false oaths and making empty agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a plowed field.

  • Amos 6:13
    74%

    13You are happy because you conquered Lo-Debar. You say,“Did we not conquer Karnaim by our own power?”

  • Amos 5:11
    74%

    11Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted.

  • Jer 12:4-5
    2 verses
    74%

    4How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast,“God will not see what happens to us.”

    5The LORD answered,“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only in safe and open country, how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?

  • Hos 10:12-13
    2 verses
    73%

    12Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers deliverance on you.

    13But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your chariots; you have relied on your many warriors.

  • Deut 32:32
    72%

    32For their vine is from the stock of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.

  • Mic 3:12
    72%

    12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a hill overgrown with brush!

  • Jer 12:1
    72%

    1LORD, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

  • Job 36:17
    72%

    17But now you are preoccupied with the judgment due the wicked, judgment and justice take hold of you.

  • Jer 12:13
    72%

    13My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests because the LORD will take them away in his fierce anger.

  • Isa 5:7
    72%

    7Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got– disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got– cries for help!

  • Isa 7:25
    71%

    25They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them.

  • Ezek 34:18-19
    2 verses
    71%

    18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet?

    19As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

  • Jer 8:6
    71%

    6I have listened to them very carefully, but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says,“I have done wrong!” All of them persist in their own wayward course like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

  • Job 6:5
    71%

    5Complaints Reflect Suffering“Does the wild donkey bray when it is near grass? Or does the ox bellow over its fodder?

  • Mal 2:17
    71%

    17Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say,“How have we wearied him?” Because you say,“Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or“Where is the God of justice?”

  • Mic 6:15
    71%

    15You will plant crops, but will not harvest them; you will squeeze oil from the olives, but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.

  • Job 24:18
    71%

    18“You say,‘He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard.

  • Jer 9:15
    70%

    15So then, listen to what I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say.‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.

  • Isa 3:14
    70%

    14The LORD comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says,“It is you who have ruined the vineyard! You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor.

  • Hos 12:11
    70%

    11Is there idolatry in Gilead? Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

  • Isa 30:16
    70%

    16You say,‘No, we will flee on horses,’ so you will indeed flee. You say,‘We will ride on fast horses,’ so your pursuers will be fast.

  • Mic 3:9
    70%

    9Listen to this, you leaders of the family of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You hate justice and pervert all that is right.

  • Isa 1:22
    70%

    22Your silver has become scum, your beer is diluted with water.

  • Job 6:30
    70%

    30Is there any falsehood on my lips? Can my mouth not discern evil things?

  • Joel 1:11
    70%

    11Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

  • Jer 14:6
    70%

    6Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.”

  • Ps 107:34
    70%

    34and a fruitful land into a barren place, because of the sin of its inhabitants.

  • Joel 1:17
    70%

    17The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

  • Isa 28:6
    70%

    6He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions, and strength to those who defend the city from attackers.

  • Hab 1:4
    70%

    4For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted.

  • Jer 12:10
    70%

    10Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people. They will trample all over my chosen land. They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wilderness.

  • Isa 28:28
    70%

    28Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it.

  • Isa 5:23
    70%

    23They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent.

  • Heb 6:7
    69%

    7For the ground that has soaked up the rain that frequently falls on it and yields useful vegetation for those who tend it receives a blessing from God.

  • Job 24:6
    69%

    6They reap fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

  • Jas 5:6
    69%

    6You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.

  • Mic 6:11
    69%

    11I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights.

  • Amos 4:1
    69%

    1Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria! You oppress the poor; you crush the needy. You say to your husbands,“Bring us more to drink!”

  • Isa 32:13
    69%

    13Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry.

  • Isa 32:16
    69%

    16Justice will settle down in the wilderness and fairness will live in the orchard.

  • Isa 10:2
    69%

    2to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.

  • Amos 5:24
    69%

    24Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.

  • Isa 9:18
    69%

    18For evil burned like a fire, it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke.

  • Joel 3:13
    69%

    13Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great!

  • Ezek 26:11
    69%

    11With his horses’ hoofs he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground.