Amos 6
6
Those Who Live Only for Today
1-2Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re at the top of the heap,
voted the number-one best place to live.
Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal.
Take a look at Calneh.
Go and visit Great Hamath.
Look in on Gath of the Philistines.
Doesn’t that take you off your high horse?
Compared to them, you’re not much, are you?
3-6Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster!
Catastrophe is just around the corner!
Woe to those who live in luxury
and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain!
those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
about their country going to ruin.
7But here’s what’s really coming:
a forced march into exile.
They’ll leave the country whining,
a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.
You’ve Made a Shambles of Justice
8 God, the Master, has sworn, and solemnly stands by his Word.
The God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:
“I hate the arrogance of Jacob.
I have nothing but contempt for his forts.
I’m about to hand over the city
and everyone in it.”
9-10Ten men are in a house, all dead. A relative comes and gets the bodies to prepare them for a decent burial. He discovers a survivor huddled in a closet and asks, “Are there any more?” The answer: “Not a soul. But hush! God must not be mentioned in this desecrated place.”
11Note well: God issues the orders.
He’ll knock large houses to smithereens.
He’ll smash little houses to bits.
12-13Do you hold a horse race in a field of rocks?
Do you plow the sea with oxen?
You’d cripple the horses
and drown the oxen.
And yet you’ve made a shambles of justice,
a bloated corpse of righteousness,
Bragging of your trivial pursuits,
beating up on the weak and crowing, “Look what I’ve done!”
14“Enjoy it while you can, you Israelites.
I’ve got a pagan army on the move against you”
—this is your God speaking, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
“And they’ll make hash of you,
from one end of the country to the other.”
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Amos 6: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Amos 6
6
Warnings to Zion and Samaria
1Woe #Luke 6:24to you who are at #Ps. 123:4; Is. 32:9–11; Zeph. 1:12ease in Zion,
And #Is. 31:1; Jer. 49:4trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the #Ex. 19:5; Amos 3:2chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
2#Jer. 2:10Go over to #Gen. 10:10; Is. 10:9Calneh and see;
And from there go to #1 Kin. 8:65; 2 Kin. 18:34Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
#Nah. 3:8Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3Woe to you who #Is. 56:12; Ezek. 12:27; Amos 9:10; Matt. 24:37–39put far off the day of #Amos 5:18doom,
#Amos 5:12Who cause #Ps. 94:20the seat of violence to come near;
4Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5#Is. 5:12; Amos 5:23Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves #1 Chr. 15:16; 16:42musical instruments #1 Chr. 23:5like David;
6Who #Amos 2:8; 4:1drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
#Gen. 37:25But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7Therefore they shall now go #Amos 5:27captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
8#Gen. 22:16; Jer. 51:14; Amos 4:2; 8:7; Heb. 6:13–17The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor #Ps. 47:4; Ezek. 24:21; Amos 8:7the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
9Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10And when a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?”
Then someone will say, “None.”
And he will say, #Amos 5:13“Hold your tongue! #Amos 8:3For we dare not mention the name of the Lord.”
11For behold, #Is. 55:11the Lord gives a command:
#2 Kin. 25:9; Amos 3:15He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.
12Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet #1 Kin. 21:7–13; Is. 59:13, 14; Hos. 10:4; Amos 5:7, 11, 12you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
13You who rejoice over Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”
14“But, behold, #Jer. 5:15I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the Lord God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the #Num. 34:7, 8; 1 Kin. 8:65; 2 Kin. 14:25entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.