Amos 6; Amos 7

1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes.

2 Go over to Calneh and look, And go from there to Hamath the great, Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, Or is their territory greater than yours?

3 Do you put off the day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence?

4 Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall,

5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves,

6 Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.

7 Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away.

8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains."

9 And it will be, if ten men are left in one house, they will die.

10 Then one's uncle, or his undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" And that one will say, "No one." Then he will answer, "Keep quiet. For the name of the LORD is not to be mentioned."

11 For behold, the LORD is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

12 Do horses run on rocks? Or does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,

13 You who rejoice in Lodebar, And say, "Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?"

14 "For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel," declares the LORD God of hosts, "And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the brook of the Arabah."

1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king's mowing.

2 And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, "Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?"

3 The LORD changed His mind about this. "It shall not be," said the LORD .

4 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land.

5 Then I said, "Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?"

6 The LORD changed His mind about this. "This too shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

7 Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

8 The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer .

9 "The high places of Isaac will be desolated And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste. Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

11 "For thus Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.' "

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying!

13 "But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."

14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.

15 "But the LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, 'Go prophesy to My people Israel.'

16 "Now hear the word of the LORD : you are saying, 'You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.'

17 "Therefore, thus says the LORD , 'Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.' "