Amos 6
1 Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel.
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 Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border.
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 that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity;
You push away all thoughts of the evil day, yet have instituted a rule of violence.
4 You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd;
They lie on ivory couches, sprawl on their divans, eat choice lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall.
5 You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David;
They idly sing to the sound of the lyre, thinking themselves songwriters like David,
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction 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 Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken away.
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 hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof.
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 And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die.
If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.
10 And a man’s kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee? And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall any to him: Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord.
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 behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts.
Look! The Lord is giving the command! He will smash the large house to bits, the small house into fragments.
12 Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.
Do horses gallop on crags? Does one plough the sea with oxen? Yet you turn justice into poison weed, and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.
13 You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not taken unto us horns by our own strength?
You who are so proud of capturing Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.
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.
