1 WOE to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.
11 For, behold, the Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.

1Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountaine of Samaria, which are named chiefe of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came.

2Passe ye vnto Calneh, and see, and from thence go ye to Hemath the great: then goe downe to Gath of the Philistines: bee they better then these kingdomes? or their border greater then your border?

3Ye that put farre away the euil day, and cause the seat of violence to come neere:

4That lie vpon beds of Yuorie, and stretch themselues vpon their couches, and eate the lambes out of the flocke, and the calues out of the midst of the stall:

5That chaunt to the sound of the Uiole, and inuent to themselues instruments of musicke, like Dauid:

6That drinke wine in bowles, and anoint themselues with the chiefe ointments: but they are not grieued for the affliction of Ioseph.

7 Therefore now shall they goe captiue, with the first that goe captiue, and the banquet of them that stretched themselues, shalbe remoued.

8The Lord God hath sworne by himselfe, saith the Lord the God of hostes, I abhorre the excellencie of Iacob, and hate his palaces: therefore wil I deliuer vp the citie, with all that is therein.

9And it shall come to passe, if there remaine tenne men in one house, that they shall die.

10And a mans vncle shall take him vp, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say vnto him that is by the sides of the house; Is there yet any with thee? and hee shall say, No. Then shall he say, Holde thy tongue: for wee may not make mention of the Name of the Lord.

11For beholde, the Lord commandeth, and hee will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

12 Shall horses runne vpon the rocke? wil one plow there with oxen? for ye haue turned iudgement into gall, and the fruite of righteousnesse into hemlocke.

13Yee which reioyce in a thing of nought, which say, Haue we not taken to vs hornes by our owne strength?

14But beholde, I wil raise vp against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, the God of hostes, and they shall afflict you from the entring in of Hemath, vnto the riuer of the wildernesse.

II == 2nd Kings 18:34 ; Isa 10:9 ; Jer 2:10

 

 

 

 

 

 

III == Ps 94:20 ; Ezek 12:27 ; Amos 5:12 , 18 ; 6:12 ; 9:10

 

V == 1st Chr 23:5 ; Isa 5:12

 

VI == Gen 37:25

 

 

 

 

 

VIII == Ps 47:4 ; Jer 51:14 ; Ezek 24:21 ; Amos 8:7 ; Heb 6:13 , 17

 

 

X == Amos 5:13 ; 8:3

 

 

 

 

 

XI == Isa 55:11 ; Amos 3:15

 

XII == Hos 10:4 ; Amos 5:7

 

 

 

 

XIV == Num 34:8 ; 1st Kings 8:65 ; Jer 5:15

 

 

1 Woe to the complacent in Zion, to the overconfident on the mount of Samaria, Leaders of a nation favored from the first, to whom the people of Israel have recourse!

2 Pass over to Calneh and see, go from there to Hamath the great, and down to Gath of the Philistines! Are you better than these kingdoms, or is your territory wider than theirs?

3 You would put off the evil day, yet you hasten the reign of violence!

4 Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, They eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall!

5 Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.

6 They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!

7 Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.

8 The Lord GOD has sworn by his very self, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, I hate his castles, and I give over the city with everything in it;

9 Should there remain ten men in a single house, these shall die.

10 Only a few shall be left to carry the dead out of the houses; If one says to a man inside a house, "Is anyone with you?" and he answers, "No one," Then he shall say, "Silence!" for no one must mention the name of the LORD.

11 Indeed, the LORD has given the command to shatter the great house to bits, and reduce the small house to rubble.

12 Can horses run across a cliff? or can one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.

13 You rejoice in Lodebar, and say, "Have we not, by our own strength, seized for ourselves Karnaim?"

14 Beware, I am raising up against you, O house of Israel, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts, A nation that shall oppress you from Labo of Hamath even to the Wadi Arabah.

V 1-7 PUNISHABLE BY EXILE The luxury of the people in Samaria because they failed to learn the lesson from Calneh, Hamath and Gath at the approach of the powerful and warlike Assyrians.

V 1 THE COMPLACEMENT IN ZION: . . . the overconfident . . . of Samaria: the proud and self-interested rulers of Judah and Israel.

v 1-3 Amos gives a wake up call to Zion, but the rest of the message of woe goes to the complacent and notable men of the Northern Kingdom. They are to look at other cities greater than theirs which were destroyed. Overconfidence would result in chaos.

v 4-6. Instead of heeding the prophet, they became luxuriant couch potatoes, trying to reinvent music, eating the best and drinking in quantity, no concern for future.

v 7. Affiming his civine call Amos (vv 14-15 when predicts that Amaziah and his family would suffer in future invasions and Israel would would be the first to go into captivity.

v 8-11. No greater oath than God swearing by Himself. The city would be so destroyed that 10 men huddling for safety from the sword would still die otherwise. If one remained when an old relative came to burn incense and bury the bones, and found one living, he would be told not to mention the name of the Lord lest more judgment befall them. They are so corrupted that they blame God instead of repenting. Even houses of rich or poor will not escape damage from God’s wrath.  

v 12. These are unimaginable situations, yet they have turned justice to poison. CAQN HORSES.....OXEN? one cannot change the course of nature, as the Israelites attempted to do by their sins of injustice.

v 13. Israel had been victorious and thought they were invincible by their strength.  LODEBAR....KARNAIM IN TRANSJORDAN: they had been captured by the Israelites. Perhaps it is in irony that reference is made to these two cities, for the root of the first suggests "nothing" and that of the second, "horns" or "strength."

V 14 A NATION: Assyria. God would do something as unimaginable as v 12. He would bring another nation against His own people till they were destroyed from end to end.