Amos 6
1 Woe to them that dwell at ease in Zion; That feel secure upon the mountain of Samaria; The honorable men of the chief of the nations, To whom the house of Israel resort!
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 over to Calneh, and see; And thence go to great Hamath; Then go down to Gath of the Philistines: Are they better than these kingdoms, Or is their border greater 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 Woe to them, that put far away the day of evil, And bring near the seat of oppression;
You push away all thoughts of the evil day, yet have instituted a rule of violence.
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, And stretch themselves upon their couches; That eat lambs from the flock, And calves from the stall;
They lie on ivory couches, sprawl on their divans, eat choice lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall.
5 That chant to the sound of the harp, And invent for themselves 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 most precious perfumes, But grieve not 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 Therefore now shall they go captive at the head of the captives; Yea, the shouting of them that stretch themselves upon their couches shall cease.
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 Jehovah hath sworn by himself, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, And I hate his palaces; I will give up the city, and all that is therein.
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 ten men remain in one house, These also shall die.
If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.
10 A man's relative, or a burner of the dead, shall take him up, To carry his bones out of the house, And he shall say to him that is in the innermost part of the house, Is there yet any one with thee? And he shall answer, No one! Then shall he say, Keep silence! For we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah.
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 Jehovah hath commanded, And he will smite the great house with breaches, And the small house with clefts.
Look! The Lord is giving the command! He will smash the large house to bits, the small house into fragments.
12 Shall horses run upon rocks, Or will one plough rocks with oxen, That ye change justice into hemlock, And the fruit of equity 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 Ye that rejoice in a thing of naught, And say, Have we not acquired dominion 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 Behold, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, I will raise against you a nation, That shall oppress you from Hamath Even to the brook 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.
