Amos 6

¹Alas for those who are at ease in Zion,

and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,

the notables of the first of the nations,

to whom the house of Israel resorts!

²Cross over to Calneh, and see;

from there go to Hamath the great;

then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Or is your territory greater than their territory,

³O you that put far away the evil day,

and bring near a reign of violence?

⁴Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,

and lounge on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock,

and calves from the stall;

⁵who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,

and like David improvise on instruments of music;

⁶who drink wine from bowls,

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

⁷Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,

and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

⁸The Lord God has sworn by himself

(says the Lord, the God of hosts):

I abhor the pride of Jacob

and hate his strongholds;

and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.

¹¹See, the Lord commands,

and the great house shall be shattered to bits,

and the little house to pieces.

¹²Do horses run on rocks?

Does one plow the sea with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

¹³you who rejoice in Lo-debar,

who say, “Have we not by our own strength

taken Karnaim for ourselves?”

¹⁴Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,

O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,

and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath

to the Wadi Arabah.