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6
The Destruction of Israel
1 Sorrow awaits who are carefree in Zion,
overconfident on the mountain of Samaria!
The elite of this, the best of nations,
on whom the people of Israel rest their hopes!
2 You say to the people:
Cross over to Calneh and see,
go from there to Hamath the great,
then go down to Gath of the Philistines:
Are they better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 You push away all thoughts of the evil day,
yet have instituted a rule of violence.
4 They lie on ivory couches,
sprawl on their divans,
eat choice lambs from the flock,
and fattened calves from the stall.
5 They idly sing to the sound of the lyre,
thinking themselves songwriters like David,
6 they drink bowlfuls of wine,
and anoint themselves with the finest of oil.
But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Therefore now they must go into exile
at the head of the captives,
and hushed will be the revelry of the sprawlers.
8 The Lord God,
the Lord, the God of hosts, has sworn by himself:
I abhor the pride of Jacob,
I hate his palaces,
therefore I will deliver up the city
and all that is in it to their enemies.
9 If ten people remain in one house, then they will die. 10 When the uncle and another member of the family of a dead man come to carry the body out of the house for burial, they will call to someone in a corner of the house, ‘Any more there?’ and he will answer, ‘No’, and then he will add, ‘Be quiet!’ – for the name of the Lord must not be mentioned.
11 Look! The Lord is giving the command!
He will smash the large house to bits,
the small house into fragments.
12 Do horses gallop on crags?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?
Yet you turn justice into poison weed,
and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.
13 You who are so proud
of capturing Lo-debar,
who say, ‘Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaim for ourselves?’
14 I am now raising up against you,
Israel, a nation,
says the Lord, the God of hosts.
They will oppress you,
from the entrance of Hamath
to the brook of the Arabah.

- Amos
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