Amos 6

1 Woe to you, that be full of riches in Zion, and trust in the hill of Samaria, ye principal men, the heads of peoples, that go proudly to the house of Israel. (Woe to you, who be very rich in Zion, and trust in the hill of Samaria, ye principal men, yea, the leaders of the people, whom the house of Israel proudly followeth.)

2 Go ye into Calneh, and see ye, and go ye from thence into Hemath the great; and go ye down into Gath of Palestines, and to all the best realms of them, if their term be broader than your term. (Go ye into Calneh, and see ye, and go ye from there into the great city of Hamath; and go ye down into Gath of the Philistines, for be those kingdoms any better than yours? or be their territories any broader, or larger, than your territories?)

3 And ye be parted into the evil day, and nigh to the seat of wickedness; (And ye declare that the evil day is far off, and yet ye do the very wicked things that shall bring it nigh;)

4 and ye sleep in beds of ivory, and do lechery in your beds; and ye eat a lamb of the flock, and calves of the middle of the drove (and ye eat a lamb from the flock, and calves out of the midst of the herd);

5 and ye sing at the voice of (the) psaltery. As David they guessed them, for to have (made) instruments of song, (and ye sing with the voice of the lute, for ye think yourselves like David, and so make instruments of song;)

6 and drink wine in vials; and with best ointment they were anointed; and in nothing they had compassion on the sorrow, either defouling, of Joseph. (and drink wine from basins, and anoint yourselves with the best ointment; but ye have no compassion on the sorrow, or on the defiling, of Joseph.)

7 Wherefore now they shall pass in the head of men passing over, and the doing, or treason, of men doing lechery, shall be done away. (And so now ye shall be the first to go into captivity, and then the treason of people doing lechery, shall be done away, or shall be ended.)

8 The Lord God swore in his soul, saith the Lord God of hosts, I loathe the pride of Jacob, and I hate the houses of him, and I shall betake the city with his dwellers; (The Lord God swore in his soul, saith the Lord God of hosts, yea, I loathe Jacob's pride, or his arrogance, and I hate his houses, and I shall deliver the city and its inhabitants unto the enemy;)

9 that if ten men be left in one house, and they shall die. (and if only ten men be left in one house, they shall still all die.)

10 And his neighbour shall take him, and shall burn him, that he bear out (the) bones of the house. And he shall say to him, that is in the privy place of the house, Whether there is yet (any) with thee? And he shall answer, An end is. And he shall say to him, Be thou still, and think thou not on the name of the Lord. (And his friend, or his relative, shall take him up, to bury him, and he shall carry his bones out of the house. And he shall say to him who is in the private place of the house, Is there anyone left in there with thee? And he shall answer, No. And he shall say to him, Be thou silent, and do not thou even say the Lord's name.)

11 For lo! the Lord shall command, and shall smite the greater house with fallings, and the less(er) house with carvings, either (with) breakings.

12 Whether horses may run in stones, either it may be eared with wild oxen? For ye turned doom into bitterness, and the fruit of rightwiseness into wormwood. (Can horses run on stones, or can the sea be plowed with oxen? For ye turned justice into bitterness, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.)

13 And ye be glad in nought, and ye say, Whether not in our strength we took to us horns? (And ye be happy over nothing, and ye say, Did we not get our power by our own strength?)

14 Lo! I shall raise on you, the house of Israel, saith the Lord God of hosts, a folk; and it shall all-break you from the entry of Hemath unto the stream of desert. (Lo! O house of Israel, I shall raise up a nation against you, saith the Lord God of hosts; and it shall altogether break you from the entrance to Hamath unto the Stream of the Arabah, or the Brook of the Desert.)

Amos 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

The danger of luxury and false security. (1-7) Punishments of sins. (8-14)

Verses 1-7 Those are looked upon as doing well for themselves, who do well for their bodies; but we are here told what their ease is, and what their woe is. Here is a description of the pride, security, and sensuality, for which God would reckon. Careless sinners are every where in danger; but those at ease in Zion, who are stupid, vainly confident, and abusing their privileges, are in the greatest danger. Yet many fancy themselves the people of God, who are living in sin, and in conformity to the world. But the examples of others' ruin forbid us to be secure. Those who are set upon their pleasures are commonly careless of the troubles of others, but this is great offence to God. Those who placed their happiness in the pleasures of sense, and set their hearts upon them, shall be deprived of those pleasures. Those who try to put the evil day far from them, find it nearest to them.

Verses 8-14 How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose eternal ruin the Lord himself has sworn; for he can execute his purpose, and none can alter it! Those hearts are wretchedly hardened that will not be brought to mention God's name, and to worship him, when the hand of God is gone out against them, when sickness and death are in their families. Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks. When our services of God are soured with sin, his providences will justly be made bitter to us. Men should take warning not to harden their hearts, for those who walk in pride, God will destroy.

Chapter Summary

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.