Amos, 6
1. Woe to the complacent in Zion, to the overconfident on the mount of Samaria, Leaders of a nation favored from the first, to whom the people of Israel have recourse!
1. Disaster for those so comfortable in Zion and for those so confident on the hill of Samaria, the notables of this first of nations, those to whom the House of Israel has recourse!
2. Pass over to Calneh and see, go from there to Hamath the great, and down to Gath of the Philistines! Are you better than these kingdoms, or is your territory wider than theirs?
2. Travel to Calneh and look, go on from there to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they more powerful than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
3. You would put off the evil day, yet you hasten the reign of violence!
3. Thinking to defer the evil day, you are hastening the reign of violence.
4. Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, They eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall!
4. Lying on ivory beds and sprawling on their divans, they dine on lambs from the flock, and stall-fattened veal;
5. Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.
5. they bawl to the sound of the lyre and, like David, they invent musical instruments;
6. They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!
6. they drink wine by the bowlful, and lard themselves with the finest oils, but for the ruin of Joseph they care nothing.
7. Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.
7. That is why they will now go into captivity, heading the column of captives. The sprawlers' revelry is over.
8. The Lord GOD has sworn by his very self, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, I hate his castles, and I give over the city with everything in it;
8. Lord Yahweh has sworn by his own self -declares Yahweh, God Sabaoth: I detest the pride of Jacob, I hate his palaces, I shall hand over the city and all in it.
9. Should there remain ten men in a single house, these shall die.
9. If ten people are left in a single house, they will die
10. Only a few shall be left to carry the dead out of the houses; If one says to a man inside a house, "Is anyone with you?" and he answers, "No one," Then he shall say, "Silence!" for no one must mention the name of the LORD.
10. and a few will be left to carry the bones from the house, and they will say to anyone deep inside the house, 'Any more there?' and he will answer, 'No.' Then he will say, 'Hush!-Yahweh's name must not be mentioned.'
11. Indeed, the LORD has given the command to shatter the great house to bits, and reduce the small house to rubble.
11. For look, Yahweh gives the command: as he strikes, the great house falls to pieces and the small house is in fragments.
12. Can horses run across a cliff? or can one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.
12. Can horses gallop over rocks? Can the sea be ploughed with oxen? Yet you have changed justice into poison, and the fruit of uprightness into wormwood,
13. You rejoice in Lodebar, and say, "Have we not, by our own strength, seized for ourselves Karnaim?"
13. while rejoicing over Lo-Debar and saying, 'Wasn't it by our own strength that we captured Karnaim?'
14. Beware, I am raising up against you, O house of Israel, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts, A nation that shall oppress you from Labo of Hamath even to the Wadi Arabah.
14. But look, House of Israel, against you -declares Yahweh, God Sabaoth- I am raising a nation to oppress you from the Pass of Hamath to the Gorge of the Arabah.
