# General Information:

Amos uses two rhetorical questions to draw attention to the rebuke that follows.

# Do horses run on the rocky cliffs?

It is impossible for a horse to run on rocky cliffs without getting hurt. Amos uses this rhetorical question to rebuke them for their actions. Alternate translation: "Horses do not run on rocky cliffs." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])

# Does one plow there with oxen?

One does not plow on rocky ground. Amos uses this rhetorical question to rebuke them for their actions. Alternate translation: "A person does not plow with oxen on rocky ground." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])

# Yet you have turned justice into poison

Distorting what is just is spoken of as if the leaders "turned justice into poison." Alternate translation: "Yet you distort what is just" or "But you make laws that hurt innocent people" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor]])

# the fruit of righteousness into bitterness

This means basically the same thing as the first part of the sentence. Distorting what is right is spoken of as if righteousness were a sweet fruit that the people made bitter tasting. Alternate translation: "you distort what is right" or "you punish those who do what is right" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor]])