How terrible for those who feel secure when they shouldn’t
1How terrible it will be for you men who are so contented on Mount Zion! How terrible for you who feel secure on the hill of Samaria! You are famous men from the greatest nation. The people of Israel come to you for help and advice.2Go and look at the city of Kalneh. Go from there to the great city of Hamath. Then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are those places better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?3You are trying to avoid the time when trouble will come. But you are only bringing closer the Assyrian rule of terror.4You lie down on beds that are decorated with ivory. You rest on your couches. You eat the best lambs and the fattest calves.5You pluck away on your harps as David did. You play new songs on musical instruments.6You drink wine by the bowlful. You use the finest lotions. But Joseph’s people will soon be destroyed. And you aren’t even sad about it.7So you will be among the first to be taken away as prisoners. You won’t be able to enjoy good food. You won’t lie around on couches anymore.
The Lord hates the pride of Israel
8The LORD and King has made a promise in his own name. He is the LORD God who rules over all. He announces, ‘I hate the pride of Jacob’s people. I can’t stand their forts. I will hand the city of Samaria and everything in it over to their enemies.’9Ten people might be left in one house. If they are, they will die there.10Relatives might come to burn the dead bodies. If they do, they’ll have to carry them out of the house first. They might ask someone still hiding there, ‘Is anyone else here with you?’ If the answer is no, the relatives will go on to say, ‘Be quiet! We must not pray in the LORD’s name.’11That’s because the LORD has already given an order. He will smash large houses to pieces. He will crush small houses to bits.12Horses don’t run on rocky ground. People don’t plough the sea with oxen. But you have turned fair treatment into poison. You have turned the fruit of right living into bitterness.13You are happy because you captured the town of Lo Debar. You say, ‘We were strong enough to take Karnaim too.’14But the LORD God rules over all. He announces, ‘People of Israel, I will stir up a nation against you. They will crush you from Lebo Hamath all the way down to the Arabah Valley.’
Amos 6
English Standard Version
Woe to Those at Ease in Zion
1“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! (Ex 19:5; Isa 32:9; Eze 22:6; Am 3:9; Am 4:1; Zep 1:12; Lu 6:24; Jas 5:1)2Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, (Ge 10:10; 1Sa 17:4; 1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 18:34; Isa 10:9; Na 3:8)3O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? (Eze 12:27; Am 3:10; Am 9:10)4“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, (Es 1:6; Am 3:12; Jas 5:5)5who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, (Am 5:23)6who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! (Isa 5:12; Da 10:3)7Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” (Am 7:11; Am 7:17)8The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” (Ps 47:4; Jer 17:3; Jer 22:5; Jer 51:14; Am 8:7)9And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. (Am 3:3)10And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.” (1Sa 31:12; Am 5:13; Am 8:3)11For behold, the Lord commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. (Am 3:15)12Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there[1] with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood[2]— (De 29:18; Am 5:7)13you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[3] who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim[4] for ourselves?” (1Ki 22:11; Mic 4:13)14“For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.” (De 1:1; 2Ki 14:25; Jer 5:15)