Amos 6
1What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem,
Amos 6:1 Hebrew in Zion.
and you who feel secure in Samaria!
You are famous and popular in Israel,
and people go to you for help.
2But go over to Calneh
and see what happened there.
Then go to the great city of Hamath
and down to the Philistine city of Gath.
You are no better than they were,
and look at how they were destroyed.
3You push away every thought of coming disaster,
but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.
4How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds
and lounge on your couches,
eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock
and of choice calves fattened in the stall.
5You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp
and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.
6You drink wine by the bowlful
and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions.
You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.
Amos 6:6 Hebrew of Joseph.
7Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives.
Suddenly, all your parties will end.
8The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says:
“I despise the arrogance of Israel,
Amos 6:8 Hebrew Jacob. See note on 3:13.
and I hate their fortresses.
I will give this city
and everything in it to their enemies.”
9(If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die. 10And when a relative who is responsible to dispose of the dead goes into the house to carry out the bodies, he will ask the last survivor, “Is anyone else with you?” When the person begins to swear, “No, by . . . ,” he will interrupt and say, “Stop! Don’t even mention the name of the Lord.”)
Amos 6:10 Or to burn the dead. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
11When the Lord gives the command,
homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.
12Can horses gallop over boulders?
Can oxen be used to plow them?
But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison
and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
13And you brag about your conquest of Lo-debar.
Amos 6:13a Lo-debar means “nothing.”
You boast, “Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength?”
Amos 6:13b Karnaim means “horns,” a term that symbolizes strength.
14“O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,”
says the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
“They will oppress you throughout your land—
from Lebo-hamath in the north
to the Arabah Valley in the south.”
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers. www.tyndale.com
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