Amos 6

1 Woe [to] those secure in Zion, And those confident on the mountain of Samaria, The marked of the chief of the nations, And the house of Israel has come to them.

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.

2 Pass over [to] Calneh and see, And go there [to] Hamath the great, And go down [to] Gath of the Philistines, Are [they] better than these kingdoms? [Is] their border greater than your border?

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.

3 Who are putting away the day of evil, And you bring the seat of violence near,

You have been set aside for the day of disaster, and you approach the throne of iniquity.

4 Who are lying down on beds of ivory, And are spread out on their couches, And are eating lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall,

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.

5 Who are taking part according to the stringed instrument, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music;

You sing to the sound of stringed instruments; they consider themselves to have the musical abilities of David.

6 Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And anoint themselves [with] chief perfumes, And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.

You drink wine in bowls, and you anoint with the best ointments; and they suffer nothing over the grief of Joseph.

7 Therefore they now go at the head of the captives, And the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones is turned aside.

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.

8 Lord YHWH has sworn by Himself, A declaration of YHWH, God of Hosts: “I am abominating the excellence of Jacob, And his high places I have hated, And I have delivered up the city and its fullness.”

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.

9 And if there are left ten persons in one house, It has come to pass—that they have died.

For if there were ten men remaining in one house, even they will die.

10 And his loved one has lifted him up, even his burner, To bring forth the bones from the house, And he said to him who [is] in the sides of the house, “Is there [any] yet with you?” And he said, “None,” Then he said, “Hush! We must not make mention of the Name of YHWH.”

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.”

11 For behold, YHWH is commanding, And He has struck the great house [with] breaches, And the little house [with] clefts.

For behold, the Lord has commanded, and he will strike the greater house with catastrophes, and the lesser house with divisions.

12 Do horses run on a rock? Does one plow [it] with oxen? For you have turned judgment to gall, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.

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.

13 O you who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, “Have we not taken to ourselves horns by our strength?”

You rejoice in emptiness. You say, “Have we not, by our own strength, taken horns for ourselves?”

14 “Surely, behold, I am raising a nation against you, O house of Israel,” A declaration of YHWH, God of Hosts, “And they have oppressed you from the coming in to Hamath, To the stream of the desert.”

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.