Amos 6:12

Rock. The closing portion of this chapter reveals the folly of those who think that in their own strength they can defy God’s judgment and resist the enemy sent to chastise them. Horses cannot gallop safely over the rocky crags.

There. Not in the Hebrew, as indicated by the use of italics. As the text of the KJV reads, the phrase “upon the rock” is taken to represent the place of both the plowing of the oxen and the running of the horses.

With oxen. Heb. babbeqarim. Some believe that this Hebrew word should have been divided as bebaqar yam, “with an ox [the] sea.” The clause would then read, “Will one plow the sea with oxen?” In any case the lesson is that the attempts of Israel to escape impending judgment would be useless. A wrong course of action would lead inevitably to national disaster.

Gall. Heb. ro’sh, “poisonous herb” (see on Ps. 69:21). Justice was turned into the deadliest injustice, and all would suffer the fearful results which were sure to follow.

Hemlock. Heb. la‘anah, a plant of the genus Artemisia, with a very bitter taste (see Deut. 29:18; see on Prov. 5:4). La‘anah is usually translated “wormwood” (see Amos 5:7). The fruit of Israel’s perversion of righteousness was the bitterest injustice and wrong.