Amos 6:8-14

8 The LORD and King has taken an oath in his own name. He is the LORD God who rules over all. He announces, "I hate the pride of Jacob's people. I can't stand their forts. I will hand the city of Samaria and everything in it over to their enemies."
9 Ten men might be left in one house. If they are, they will die there.
10 Relatives might come to burn the dead bodies. If they do, they'll have to carry them out of the house first. They might ask someone still hiding there, "Is anyone here with you?" If the answer is no, the relatives will say, "Be quiet! We must not pray in the LORD's name."
11 The LORD has already given an order. He will smash large houses to pieces. He will crush small houses to bits.
12 Horses don't run on rocky ground. People don't plow there with oxen. But you have turned fair treatment into poison. You have turned the fruit of right living into bitterness.
13 You are happy because you captured the town of Lo Debar. You say, "We were strong enough to take Karnaim too."
14 But the LORD God rules over all. He announces, "People of Israel, I will stir up a nation against you. They will crush you from Lebo Hamath all the way down to the Arabah Valley."

Amos 6:8-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 6

This chapter seems to be directed both to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the ten tribes of Israel, under the names of Zion and Samaria, and to the principal men in both; who are reproved and threatened for their carnal security and self-confidence, being in no fear of the evil day, though they had no reason for it no more than other people, Am 6:1-3; are charged with wantonness, luxury, intemperance, and want of sympathy with those in distress, Am 6:4-6; therefore are threatened to be carried captive first, and their city to be delivered up; which, for the certainty of it, is not only said, but swore to, Am 6:7,8; and a great mortality in every house, and the destruction of all houses, both great and small, Am 6:9-11; and since a reformation of them seemed impracticable, and not to be expected, but they gloried in their wealth, and boasted of their strength, therefore they should be afflicted by a foreign nation raised against them, which affliction should be general, from one end of the country to the other, Am 6:12-14.

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