Amos 6:1-14 NIV
Woe to the Complacent
1Woe to
you who are complacent in Zion,
and to
you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you
notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom
the people of Israel come!
2Go to
Kalneh and look at it;
go from
there to great Hamath,
and
then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are
they better off than your two kingdoms?
Is
their land larger than yours?
3You put
off the day of disaster
and
bring near a reign of terror.
4You lie
on beds adorned with ivory
and
lounge on your couches.
You
dine on choice lambs
and
fattened calves.
5You
strum away on your harps like David
and
improvise on musical instruments.
6You
drink wine by the bowlful
and use
the finest lotions,
but you
do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7Therefore
you will be among the first to go into exile;
your
feasting and lounging will end.
The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel
8The
Sovereign Lord has sworn by Himself—the Lord God Almighty declares:
“I
abhor the pride of Jacob
and
detest his fortresses;
I will
deliver up the city
and
everything in it.”
9If ten
people are left in one house, they too will die. 10And if
the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn thema asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is
anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush! We
must not mention the Name of the Lord.”
11For the Lord has given the command,
and he
will smash the great house into pieces
and the
small house into bits.
12Do
horses run on the rocky crags?
But you
have turned justice into poison
and the
fruit of righteousness into bitterness—
14For the Lord God Almighty declares,
“I will
stir up a nation against you, Israel,
that
will oppress you all the way
from
Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”
The prophet reproves
his people for indulging themselves in luxurious ease, and forming alliances
with their powerful idolatrous neighbors, Amos 6:1. He asks if their lands or their
lot be better than their own, Amos 6:2, that they should
choose to worship the gods of the heathen, and forsake Jehovah.
Then follows an
amplification of the sin which the prophet reproves, Amos 6:3-6; to which he adds
very awful threatening, confirmed by the oath of Jehovah, Amos 6:7, Amos 6:8. He particularly specifies the
punishment of their sins by pestilence; this
obscure verse seems to describe the effects of famine and pestilence during the
siege of Samaria. The carcass shall be burnt, and the bones removed with no
ceremony of funeral rites, and without the assistance of the nearest kinsman.
Solitude shall reign in the house; and if one is left, he must be silent, (see Amos 8:3), lest he be plundered of his scanty provision!
Burning the body, and then collecting the ashes, and putting them into an urn,
was deemed the most honorable mode of burial. Amos 6:9-11.
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