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.
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!
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.
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?
3 You have been set aside for the day of disaster, and you approach the throne of iniquity.
You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;
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.
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;
5 You sing to the sound of stringed instruments; they consider themselves to have the musical abilities of David.
Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 You drink wine in bowls, and you anoint with the best ointments; and they suffer nothing over the grief of Joseph.
Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction 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.
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.
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 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.
9 For if there were ten men remaining in one house, even they will die.
Then it will come about that if there are still ten men in a house, death will overtake them.
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 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.
11 For behold, the Lord has commanded, and he will strike the greater house with catastrophes, and the lesser house with divisions.
For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.
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.
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?
13 You rejoice in emptiness. You say, “Have we not, by our own strength, taken horns for ourselves?”
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?
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 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.
