Amos 6

The Message

Those Who Live Only for Today

6 ^1-2Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
    who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re at the top of the heap,
    voted the number-one best place to live.
Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal.
    Take a look at Calneh.
Go and visit Great Hamath.
    Look in on Gath of the Philistines.
Doesn’t that take you off your high horse?
    Compared to them, you’re not much, are you?

^3-6Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster!
    Catastrophe is just around the corner!
Woe to those who live in luxury
    and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
    indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
    who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain!
    those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
    about their country going to ruin.

⁷But here’s what’s really coming:
a forced march into exile.
They’ll leave the country whining,
a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.

You’ve Made a Shambles of Justice

⁸God, the Master, has sworn, and solemnly stands by his Word.
The God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:

“I hate the arrogance of Jacob.
I have nothing but contempt for his forts.
I’m about to hand over the city
and everyone in it.”

^9-10Ten men are in a house, all dead. A relative comes and gets the bodies to prepare them for a decent burial. He discovers a survivor huddled in a closet and asks, “Are there any more?” The answer: “Not a soul. But hush! God must not be mentioned in this desecrated place.”

¹¹Note well: God issues the orders.
He’ll knock large houses to smithereens.
He’ll smash little houses to bits.

^12-13Do you hold a horse race in a field of rocks?
    Do you plow the sea with oxen?
You’d cripple the horses
    and drown the oxen.
And yet you’ve made a shambles of justice,
    a bloated corpse of righteousness,
Bragging of your trivial pursuits,
    beating up on the weak and crowing, “Look what I’ve done!”

¹⁴“Enjoy it while you can, you Israelites.
    I’ve got a pagan army on the move against you”
    —this is your God speaking, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
“And they’ll make hash of you,
    from one end of the country to the other.”

Amos 6

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Woe to the Complacent

6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion^(A)
and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria—
the notable people in this first of the nations,
those the house of Israel comes to.
²Cross over to Calneh^(B) and see;
go from there to great Hamath;^(C)
then go down to Gath^(D) of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
³You dismiss any thought of the evil day^(E)
and bring in a reign of violence.^(F)

⁴They lie on beds inlaid with ivory,^(G)
sprawled out on their couches,^(H)
and dine on lambs from the flock^(I)
and calves from the stall.
⁵They improvise songs^[a] to the sound of the harp^(J)
and invent^[b] their own musical instruments like David.^(K)
⁶They drink wine by the bowlful^(L)
and anoint themselves with the finest oils
but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.^(M)
⁷Therefore, they will now go into exile
as the first of the captives,^(N)
and the feasting^(O) of those who sprawl out
will come to an end.

Israel’s Pride Judged

⁸The Lord God has sworn by Himself^(P)—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Hosts:

I loathe Jacob’s pride^(Q)
and hate his citadels,^(R)
so I will hand over the city^(S) and everything in it.

⁹And if there are 10 men left in one house, they will die.^(T) ¹⁰A close relative^[c] and burner^[d]^(U) will remove his corpse^[e] from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?”

That person will reply, “None.”

Then he will say, “Silence, because Yahweh’s name must not be invoked.”^(V)

¹¹For the Lord commands:

The large house will be smashed to pieces,
and the small house to rubble.^(W)

¹²Do horses gallop on the cliffs;
does anyone plow there with oxen?^[f]
Yet you have turned justice into poison^(X)
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood^(Y)—
¹³you who rejoice over Lo-debar^(Z)
and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim
for ourselves by our own strength?”^(AA)
¹⁴But look, I am raising up a nation
against you, house of Israel^(AB)—
this is the declaration of the Lord,
the God of Hosts—
and they will oppress you
from the entrance of Hamath^[g]^(AC)
to the Brook of the Arabah.^[h]

Footnotes

Amos 6:5 Hb obscure
Amos 6:5 Or compose on
Amos 6:10 Lit His uncle
Amos 6:10 A burner of incense, a memorial fire, or a body; Hb obscure
Amos 6:10 Lit remove bones
Amos 6:12 Some emend to plow the sea
Amos 6:14 Or from Lebo-hamath
Amos 6:14 Probably the Valley of Zared at the southeast end of the Dead Sea

The Message (MSG)

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Amos 6 The Message