AmosChapter 6

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

1How terrible for you who live easy lives in Zion!
How terrible for you who feel safe on Mount Samaria!
You are the famous leaders of the greatest nation.
The family of Israel comes to you for help.
2Go over to Calneh and look.
Go from there to the great city of Hamath.
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their land bigger than yours?
3You push away the thought of the day of disaster.
Yet you bring closer a time when violence rules.
4You lie on beds decorated with ivory.
You stretch out on your couches.
You eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the stall.
5You make up songs on the harp like David.
You invent your own musical instruments.
6You drink wine by the bowlful.
You rub yourselves with the finest oils.
But you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7So now you will be the first to be taken away as captives.
Your feasting and lazy lounging will come to an end.
8The Lord GOD has made a promise by his own self.
The LORD, the God of Hosts, has said:
"I hate Jacob's pride.
I hate his strong towers.
So I will hand over the city and everything in it."
9If ten men are left in one house, they will die too. 10A relative will come to burn the bodies. When he picks them up to carry them out of the house, he will call to someone inside, "Is anyone else with you?" That person will answer, "No one." Then the relative will say, "Hush! We must not speak the name of the LORD." 11For the LORD gives a command:
"The big house will be smashed to pieces.
The small house will be broken into bits."
12"Do horses run on rocky cliffs?
Does anyone plow the sea with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison.
You have turned the fruit of what is right into something bitter.
13You are happy about taking Lo-debar.
You say, 'Didn't we take Karnaim by our own strength?'a
14For look! I will raise up a nation against you, family of Israel,"
declares the LORD, the God of Hosts.
"They will crush you
from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah."

Notes

  1. a 6:13 Lo-debar sounds like "nothing" in Hebrew. Karnaim means "horns," a sign of strength.