Amos 6

Chapter 6

“Those at Ease in Zion”

^1aWoe to those who are at ease in Zion

And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,

The ^bdistinguished men of the foremost of nations,

To whom the house of Israel comes.

²Go over to ^aCalneh and look,

And go from there to ^bHamath the great,

Then go down to ^cGath of the Philistines.

Are ¹they better than these kingdoms,

Or is their territory greater than yours?

³Do you ^aput off the day of calamity,

And would you ^bbring near the seat of violence?

⁴Those who recline on beds of ivory

And sprawl on their ^acouches,

And ^beat lambs from the flock

And calves from the midst of the stall,

⁵Who improvise to the sound of the harp,

And like David have ¹composed ^asongs for themselves,

⁶Who ^adrink wine from ¹sacrificial bowls

While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils,

Yet they have not ^bgrieved over the ruin of Joseph.

⁷Therefore, they will now ^ago into exile at the head of the exiles,

And the ^bsprawlers’ ¹banqueting will ²pass away.

⁸The Lord ¹God has ^asworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts has declared:

“I ^bloathe the arrogance of Jacob,

And ²detest his ^ccitadels;

Therefore I will ^ddeliver up the city and ³all it contains.”

⁹And it will be, if ^aten men are left in one house, they will die.

¹⁰Then one’s ¹uncle, or his ^2aundertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will ³answer, “^bKeep quiet. For ⁴the name of the Lord is ^cnot to be mentioned.”

¹¹For behold, the Lord is going to ^acommand that the ^bgreat house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

¹²Do horses run on rocks?

Or does one plow ¹them with oxen?

Yet you have turned ^ajustice into poison

And the fruit of righteousness into ²wormwood,

¹³You who rejoice in ^1aLodebar,

²And say, “Have we not ^bby our own strength taken ³Karnaim for ourselves?”

¹⁴“For behold, ^aI am going to raise up a nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God of hosts,

“And they will afflict you from the ^bentrance of Hamath

To the brook of the Arabah.”