Amos 6:12-14

Contemporary English Version

¹²Horses can't gallop on rocks;
    oceans^[a] can't be plowed.
But you have turned justice
and fairness
    into bitter poison.
¹³You celebrate the defeat
    of Lo-Debar and Karnaim,^[b]
and you boast by saying,
    “We did it on our own.”

¹⁴But the Lord God All-Powerful
will send a nation to attack
    you people of Israel.
They will capture Lebo-Hamath
    in the north,
Arabah Creek^[c] in the south,
    and everything in between.

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Footnotes

6.12 oceans: Or “rocky fields.”
6.13 Lo-Debar and Karnaim: Two cities east of the Jordan River that were captured by Jeroboam II (see 2 Kings 14.25). In Hebrew “Lo-Debar” can mean “nothing,” and “Karnaim” means “two horns (of a bull).” Horns were symbols of strength, and so the people are bragging about their military power (defeat of “two horns”), which Amos says is “nothing” (Lo-Debar).
6.14 Lebo-Hamath … Arabah Creek: The northern and southern boundaries of the northern kingdom.