Amos 6
1 Woe to you who have been wealthy in Zion, and to you who have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: aristocrats, heads of the people, who advance with a retinue into the house of Israel.
Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Cross over to Calneh and see, and go from there into Hamath the great, and descend into Gath of the Philistines, and to the best kingdoms of these, if their limits are wider than your limits.
Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
3 You have been set aside for the day of disaster, and you approach the throne of iniquity.
You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.
4 You sleep on beds of ivory, and you are lustful on your couches. You devour lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the herd.
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
5 You sing to the sound of stringed instruments; they consider themselves to have the musical abilities of David.
You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.
6 You drink wine in bowls, and you anoint with the best ointments; and they suffer nothing over the grief of Joseph.
You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Because of this, now they will depart at the head of those who go into captivity; and the faction of the lustful will be removed.
Therefore, you will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and your feasting and lounging will come to an end.
8 The Lord God has sworn by his own soul, the Lord God of hosts says: I detest the arrogance of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will hand over the city with its inhabitants.
The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
9 For if there were ten men remaining in one house, even they will die.
And if there are ten men left in one house, they too will die.
10 And his closest relative will steal him away and will burn him, so that he may carry the bones out of the house. And he will say to him that is in the inner most rooms of the house, “Now is there any left that still belongs to you?” And he will answer, “It is finished.” And he will say to him, “Be silent and do not call to mind the name of the Lord.”
And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will answer. “Silence,” the relative will retort, “for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”
11 For behold, the Lord has commanded, and he will strike the greater house with catastrophes, and the lesser house with divisions.
For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”
12 Can horses gallop across rocks, or is anyone able to plough with gazelles? For you have turned judgment into bitterness and the fruit of justice into wormwood.
“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
13 You rejoice in emptiness. You say, “Have we not, by our own strength, taken horns for ourselves?”
you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’
14 For behold, house of Israel, I will raise up a people over you, says the Lord God of hosts, and they will crush you from the entrance of Hamath all the way to the burning of the desert.
For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
