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Complacent Self-Indulgence Will Be Punished

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
    and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
the notables of the first of the nations,
    to whom the house of Israel resorts!(A)
Cross over to Calneh and see;
    from there go to Hamath the great;
    then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better[a] than these kingdoms?
    Or is your[b] territory greater than their[c] territory,(B)
you who put far away the evil day
    and bring near a reign of violence?(C)

Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
    and lounge on their couches
and eat lambs from the flock
    and calves from the stall,(D)
who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
    and like David improvise on instruments of music,(E)
who drink wine from bowls
    and anoint themselves with the finest oils
    but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!(F)
Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
    and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.(G)

The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
    and hate his strongholds,
    and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.(H)

If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And if a relative, one who burns it,[d] takes up the body to bring it out of the house and says to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relative[e] shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

11 For the Lord commands,
    and he will shatter the great house to bits
    and the little house to pieces.(I)
12 Do horses run on rocky crags?
    Does one plow the sea with oxen?[f]
But you have turned justice into poison
    and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,(J)
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[g]
    who say, “Have we not by our own strength
    taken Karnaim[h] for ourselves?”
14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
    O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
    to the Wadi Arabah.(K)

Footnotes

  1. 6.2 Or Are they better
  2. 6.2 Heb their
  3. 6.2 Heb your
  4. 6.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 6.10 Heb he
  6. 6.12 Or Does one plow them with oxen
  7. 6.13 Or in a thing of nothingness
  8. 6.13 Or horns