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 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 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.

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

You push away all thoughts of the evil day, yet have instituted a rule of violence.

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.

They lie on ivory couches, sprawl on their divans, eat choice lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall.

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

They idly sing to the sound of the lyre, thinking themselves songwriters like David,

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

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

If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.

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.”

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

Look! The Lord is giving the command! He will smash the large house to bits, the small house into fragments.

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.

Do horses gallop on crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you turn justice into poison weed, and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.

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

You who are so proud of capturing Lo-debar, who say, ‘Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?’

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.

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.