Amos 6; Amos 7

1 Alas 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!

2 Cross 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,

3 O you that put far away the evil day, and bring near a reign of violence?

4 Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall;

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music;

6 who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

8 The 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.

9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die.

10 And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" the answer will come, "No." Then the relative shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord."

11 See, the Lord commands, and the great house shall be shattered to bits, and the little house to pieces.

12 Do 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—

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?"

14 Indeed, 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.

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king's mowings).

2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, "O Lord God, forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!"

3 The Lord relented concerning this; "It shall not be," said the Lord.

4 This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord God was calling for a shower of fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.

5 Then I said, "O Lord God, cease, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!"

6 The Lord relented concerning this; "This also shall not be," said the Lord God.

7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

8 And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;

9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.

11 For thus Amos has said, "Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.' "

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there;

13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom."

14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,

15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

16 "Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You say, "Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.'

17 Therefore thus says the Lord: "Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.' "