Amos 6

1 Sorrow to those who are resting in comfort in Zion, and to those who have no fear of danger in the mountain of Samaria, the noted men of the chief of the nations, to whom the people of Israel come!

Sorrow awaits who are carefree in Zion, overconfident on the mountain of Samaria! The elite of this, the best of nations, on whom the people of Israel rest their hopes!

2 Go on 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 your land wider than theirs?

You say to the people: Cross over to Calneh and see, go from there to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines: Are they better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

3 You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;

You push away all thoughts of the evil day, yet have instituted a rule of violence.

4 Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

They lie on ivory couches, sprawl on their divans, eat choice lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall.

5 Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David;

They idly sing to the sound of the lyre, thinking themselves songwriters like David,

6 Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.

they drink bowlfuls of wine, and anoint themselves with the finest of oil. But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

7 So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

Therefore now they must go into exile at the head of the captives, and hushed will be the revelry of the sprawlers.

8 The Lord God has taken an oath by himself, says the Lord, the God of armies: the pride of Jacob is disgusting to me, and I have hate for his great houses: so I will give up the town with everything in it.

The Lord God, the Lord, the God of hosts, has sworn by himself: I abhor the pride of Jacob, I hate his palaces, therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it to their enemies.

9 Then it will come about that if there are still ten men in a house, death will overtake them.

If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.

10 And when a man's relation, even the one who is responsible for burning his body, lifting him up to take his bones out of the house, says to him who is in the inmost part of the house, Is there still anyone with you? and he says, No; then he will say, Keep quiet, for the name of the Lord may not be named.

When the uncle and another member of the family of a dead man come to carry the body out of the house for burial, they will call to someone in a corner of the house, ‘Any more there?’ and he will answer, ‘No’, and then he will add, ‘Be quiet!’ – for the name of the Lord must not be mentioned.

11 For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.

Look! The Lord is giving the command! He will smash the large house to bits, the small house into fragments.

12 Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?

Do horses gallop on crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you turn justice into poison weed, and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.

13 You whose joy is in a thing of no value, who say, Have we not taken for ourselves horns by the strength which is ours?

You who are so proud of capturing Lo-debar, who say, ‘Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?’

14 For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.

I am now raising up against you, Israel, a nation, says the Lord, the God of hosts. They will oppress you, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.