Amos 6

1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

Terrible things will happen to you people in Jerusalem who are not worried about anything, and also to you leaders who live on Samaria Hill who think that you are safe. [You think that] [IRO] you are the most important people [in the world], people to whom Israeli people [MTY] go [to get help].

2 Pass ye to Calneh, and see; and from there go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

But go to Calneh [city] and see [what happened there]. Then go to [see] the great [city] Hamath [and see what happened there]. Then go down to Gath [city] in Philistia [and see what happened to their city walls]. Your land/country is certainly not [RHQ] larger or more powerful than their countries were, [but they were all destroyed].

3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

You are trying to not think about a day when you will experience disasters, when [your enemies will come and] violently attack you.

4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall;

You lie on beds [decorated with expensive] ivory, and on [soft] couches. You eat [the tender meat of] lambs and fat calves.

5 That chant to the sound of the harp, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;

You create/compose new songs and play them on your harps like [King] David did.

6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

You drink entire bowlfuls of wine and you put expensive oils/perfumes on your bodies, but you do not grieve about [your country of] Israel [MTY], which is about to be destroyed.

7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

Your feasting and lounging [on soft couches] will soon end, and you will be among the first ones to be forced [by your enemies] to go (into exile/to another country).

8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore I will deliver up the city with all its abundance.

Yahweh the Lord has solemnly declared this: “I hate the people of Israel because they are very proud; I detest their fortresses. I will enable [their enemies] to capture their [capital] city and everything in it.”

9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, they shall die.

[When that happens, ] if there are ten people in one house, they will all die.

10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is inside of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

If a relative who (has the task of/is responsible for) burning their corpses comes to the house and inquires of anyone who is still hiding there, “Is there anyone here with you?”, and that person replies “No,” [the one who inquired] will say, “Be quiet! We must not mention the name of Yahweh, [lest he cause us also to be killed]!”

11 For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

[Terrible things like that will happen] because Yahweh has commanded that large houses [in Israel] must be smashed into pieces, and small houses must be smashed into tiny bits.

12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:

Horses certainly do not [RHQ] run on big rocks, and certainly people do not [RHQ] plow the sea with oxen. But you have [done things that no one should do]: You have distorted what is fair/right and caused it to be considered like poison [MET]; you have changed what is right and consider it to be like things that are bitter.

13 Ye who rejoice in a thing of nought, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

You are proud because you have captured Lo-Debar [town], and you have said, “We captured Karnaim by our own power!”

14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the river of the wilderness.

But the Commander of the armies of angels declares, “I will cause another nation to attack you people [MTY] of Israel; they will (oppress you/cause you to suffer) all the way from Hamath Pass [in the northwest] to the Dead Sea [in the southeast].”