Amos 6
Legacy Standard Bible
Woe to Those at Ease in Zion
6 (A)Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,
The (B)distinguished men of the first of the nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Pass on over to (C)Calneh and look,
And go from there to (D)Hamath the great,
Then go down to (E)Gath of the Philistines.
Are [a]they better than these kingdoms,
Or are their borders greater than your borders?
3 Do you (F)put off the day of calamity,
And would you (G)cause the seat of violence to approach?
4 Those who lay down on beds of ivory
And sprawl on their (H)couches
And (I)eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall,
5 Who improvise to the [b]sound of the harp,
And like David have [c]composed (J)songs for themselves,
6 Who (K)drink wine from [d]sacrificial bowls
While they anoint themselves with the first pick of the oils,
Yet they have not (L)grieved over the destruction of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now (M)go into exile among the first of the exiles,
And the (N)sprawlers’ [e]banqueting will turn aside.
8 Lord Yahweh has (O)sworn by Himself, Yahweh God of hosts has declared:
“I (P)abhor the lofty pride of Jacob
And hate his (Q)citadels;
Therefore I will (R)deliver up the city as well as its fullness.”
9 And it will be, if (S)ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10 Then one’s [f]uncle, or the one who [g](T)burns his bones, will lift him up to bring out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will [h]answer, “(U)Keep quiet. For [i]the name of Yahweh is (V)not to be mentioned.” 11 For behold, Yahweh is going to (W)command and will strike the (X)great house to pieces and the small house to fragments.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one plow [j]them with oxen?
Yet you have overturned (Y)justice into gall
And the fruit of righteousness into [k]wormwood,
13 You who are glad in [l](Z)Lo-debar
[m]And say, “Have we not (AA)by our own strength taken [n]Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (AB)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh God of hosts,
“And they will press down on you from [o](AC)Lebo-hamath
To the (AD)brook of the Arabah.”
Footnotes
- Amos 6:2 Or you
- Amos 6:5 Lit mouth
- Amos 6:5 Or invented musical instruments
- Amos 6:6 Lit sprinkling basins
- Amos 6:7 Or cultic feasts
- Amos 6:10 Or beloved one
- Amos 6:10 Lit burns him
- Amos 6:10 Lit say
- Amos 6:10 Lit not to make mention of the name of
- Amos 6:12 Or the sea with oxen
- Amos 6:12 Or bitterness
- Amos 6:13 Lit a thing of nothing
- Amos 6:13 Lit Who
- Amos 6:13 Lit a pair of horns
- Amos 6:14 Or the entrance of Hamath
Amos 6
Evangelical Heritage Version
Judgment Against Complacency
6 Woe to[a] you who are complacent in Zion,
you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you distinguished people of the leading nation,
to whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Travel to Kalneh and look.
Go from there to Hamath Rabbah,
and go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than those kingdoms?
Are their territories greater than your territory?[b]
3 You who are trying to put off the evil day,
you bring near the session for violence!
4 Those who lie on ivory beds,
sprawling upon their couches,
eating lambs from the flock
and calves straight from the stall,
5 improvising tunes on the lyre,
composing music for themselves on musical instruments like David,
6 drinking large bowls of wine—
they slather[c] themselves with the most expensive perfumed oils,
but they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 That is why they will go into exile as the first of the exiles.
Those who sprawl out at their feasts for the dead will depart.
Certain Destruction for Proud Israel
8 The Lord God swears by himself,
declares the Lord, the God of Armies:
I detest the pride of Jacob,
and I hate his citadels,
so I will hand over the city and everything in it.
9 If ten men happen to survive in one house, they will die. 10 When a relative who burns the bodies[d] comes to take away the bones from the house, he will say to whoever remains in the recesses of the house, “Is there anyone else still with you?” And they will say, “No one.” And he will say, “Silence! For you must not invoke the name of the Lord!”[e]
11 Look, the Lord is indeed giving a command, and he will smash the largest house into fragments and the smallest house into splinters.
12 Do horses run on a rocky cliff?
Does anyone plow the sea with an ox?[f]
Yet you turn justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
13 You are rejoicing over Lo Debar.
You are saying, “Was it not by our strength that we captured Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 Indeed, I am about to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord, the God of Armies.
They will oppress you from Lebo Hamath to the Canyon of the Arabah.[g]
Footnotes
- Amos 6:1 Or how terrible it will be for
- Amos 6:2 The line of thought is difficult to follow here. The context seems to require that the two lines of the verse be parallel statements, each of which requires the answer “no.” The context therefore seems to call for reversing the second comparison, but there is no manuscript evidence to support such a switch.
- Amos 6:6 Literally anoint, but the reference is not to anointing to office.
- Amos 6:10 Or who prepares bodies for burial
- Amos 6:10 Verses 9 and 10 are difficult. Translations vary greatly.
- Amos 6:12 The translation follows a re-division of a word of the Hebrew text. The main Hebrew text reads does one plow with oxen, a reading which calls for the answer “yes,” but which does not fit the context. Another solution is to repeat the object rocky cliff from the first half of the verse: does one plow a rocky cliff with oxen?
- Amos 6:14 Lebo Hamath is far to the north in Syria. The Arabah is the rift between the mountains of Edom and the mountains of Sinai, south of Israel.
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