Amos 6:8-14

Israel's Pride Judged

8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself-the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Hosts: I loathe Jacob's pride and hate his citadels, so I will hand over the city and everything in it.

9 And if there are 10 men left in one house, they will die.

10 A close relative^[a] and a burner,^[b][c]will remove his corpse^[d] from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, "Any more with you?" That person will reply, "None." Then he will say, "Silence, because Yahweh's name must not be invoked."^[e]

11 For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.^[f]

12 Do horses run on rock, or does someone plow [it] with oxen?^[g] Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood^[h]-

13 you who rejoice over Lo-debar and say, "Didn't we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?"

14 But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord, the God of Hosts- and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath^[i] to the Brook of the Arabah.^[j]

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit His uncle
• [b]. Or burner of incense, or burner of a memorial fire, or burner of a body; Hb obscure
• [c]. 1 Sm 31:12; 2 Ch 16:14; Jr 34:5
• [d]. Lit remove bones
• [e]. Isa 48:1; Jr 44:26; Hs 4:15
• [f]. Am 1:1; 9:9
• [g]. Others emend to plow the sea
• [h]. Am 5:7; Isa 5:20; Rv 8:11
• [i]. Or from Lebo-hamath; 2 Kg 14:25, 28
• [j]. Probably the Valley of Zared at the southeast end of the Dead Sea