Amos 6
1 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!
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.
2 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?
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?
3 You push away all thoughts of the evil day, yet have instituted a rule of violence.
Who are putting away the day of evil, And you bring the seat of violence near,
4 They lie on ivory couches, sprawl on their divans, eat choice lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall.
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,
5 They idly sing to the sound of the lyre, thinking themselves songwriters like David,
Who are taking part according to the stringed instrument, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music;
6 they drink bowlfuls of wine, and anoint themselves with the finest of oil. But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And anoint themselves [with] chief perfumes, And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.
7 Therefore now they must go into exile at the head of the captives, and hushed will be the revelry of the sprawlers.
Therefore they now go at the head of the captives, And the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones is turned aside.
8 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.
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.”
9 If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.
And if there are left ten persons in one house, It has come to pass—that they have died.
10 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.
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.”
11 Look! The Lord is giving the command! He will smash the large house to bits, the small house into fragments.
For behold, YHWH is commanding, And He has struck the great house [with] breaches, And the little house [with] clefts.
12 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.
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.
13 You who are so proud of capturing Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”
O you who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, “Have we not taken to ourselves horns by our strength?”
14 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.
“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.”
