Amos

CHAPTER 6

Third Woe

secure on the mount of Samaria,

Leaders of the first among nations,

to whom the people of Israel turn.

go from there to Hamath the great,

and down to Gath^* of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms,

or is your territory greater than theirs?

yet hasten the time of violence!

and lounge upon their couches;

Eating lambs taken from the flock,

and calves from the stall;

composing on musical instruments like David,

and anoint themselves with the best oils,

but are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph;

and the carousing of those who lounged shall cease.

an oracle of the LORD, the God of hosts:

I abhor the pride of Jacob,

I hate his strongholds,

and I will hand over the city with everything in it;^a

in a single house, these shall die.

to carry them out of the house,

If he says to someone in the recesses of the house,

“Is anyone with you?” and the answer is, “No one,”

Then he shall say, “Silence!”

for no one must mention the name of the LORD.^{* b}

to shatter the great house to bits,

and reduce the small house to rubble.

or can one plow the sea with oxen?

Yet you have turned justice into gall,

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,^c

and say, “Have we not, by our own strength,

seized Karnaim^* for ourselves?”

oracle of the LORD, the God of hosts—

A nation^* that shall oppress you

from Lebo-hamath even to the Wadi Arabah.

* [6:2] Calneh…Hamath…Gath: city-states overcome by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C., whose fate should be a lesson to the Israelites. The prophet castigates the leaders for being more intent on pursuing a luxurious lifestyle (vv. 1, 4–6) than reading the signs of the times.

* [6:10] In this desperate situation there seems to be a profound fear of the Lord, who is the cause of the deaths (cf. 3:6).

* [6:13] Lodebar…Karnaim: two towns recaptured from Judah by Israelite forces during the reign of Jeroboam II (see 2 Kgs 14:25). Some mockery of at least the first of these victories is probably intended by the prophet here, as Lodebar can be translated “nothing.”

* [6:14] A nation: Assyria. Lebo-hamath…Wadi Arabah: the territorial limits of Solomon’s kingdom, north and south respectively, as re-established by Jeroboam II (see 2 Kgs 14:25).

a. [6:8] Is 28:1–4; Jer 51:14.

b. [6:10] Zep 1:7.

c. [6:12] Am 5:7.

V. SYMBOLIC VISIONS