6:1-6Amos leveled his attack at those living in complacency and luxury in both tsraet and Judah. Great wealth and comfortable life-styles may make people think they are secure, but God is not pleased if we isolate ourselves from others’ needs. God wants us to care for others as he cares for us. His Kingdom has no place for selfishness or indifference. We must learn to put the needs of others before our wants. Using our wealth to help others is one way to guard against pride and complacency.
Life Application Study BibleAmosChapter 6
Amos 6
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1445, 1446
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
6Amos 6
1and people go to you for help.
2But go over to Calnehand see what happened there.Then go to the great city of Hamathand down to the Philistine city of Gath.You are no better than they were,and look at how they were destroyed.
3You push away every thought of coming disaster,but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.5:26-27 Greek version reads No, you carried your pagan gods-—the shrine of Molech, the star of your god Rephan,and the images you made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus. CompareActs 7:43. 6:1 Hebrew in Zion.
4How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory bedsand lounge on your couches,eating the meat of tender lambs from the flockand of choice calves fattened in the stall.
5You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harpand fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.
6You drink wine by the bowlfuland perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions.You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.*
7Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives.Suddenly, all your parties will end.
8The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the LORD God of Heaven's Armies, says: “I despise the arrogance of Israel,* and I hate their fortresses. I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies.” ( 9If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die. And when a relative who is responsible to dispose of the dead* goes into the house to carry out the bodies, he will ask the last survivor, “Is anyone else with you?” When the person begins to swear, “No, by...,” he will interrupt and say, “Stop! Don’t even mention the name of the LORD.”)
11When the LORD gives the command,homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.
12Can horses gallop over boulders?Can oxen be used to plow them?But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poisonand the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
13And you brag about your conquest of Lo-debar.*You boast, “Didn't we take Karnaim* by our own strength?”
14“O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,”says the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.“They will oppress you throughout your land—from Lebo-hamath in the northto the Arabah Valley in the south.”3. Visions of judgment
Textual footnotes
- 6:6 Hebrew of Joseph.
- 6:8 Hebrew Jacob. See note on 3:13.
- 6:10 Or to burn the dead. The meaning of the
Life Application Notes 6 notes
6:2Great cities to the east, north, and west had been destroyed because of their pride. What happened to them would happen to Israel because Israel’s sin was just as great as theirs.
6:4Ivory was an imported luxury, rare and extremely expensive. Even a small amount of ivory symbolized wealth. Something as extravagant as a bed inlaid with ivory shows the gross waste of resources that should have been used to help the poor.
6:8-11The people had built juxurious homes to flaunt their achievements. While it is not wrong to live in comfortable houses, we must not let them become sources of inflated pride and selfglorification. God gave our homes to us, and they are to be used for service, not just for show.
6:10Amos gives us a picture of God’s fearful judgment: The people hesitated to speak God's name, even during a time of grief, for fear that they would attract his attention and be judged also.
6:13,14Karnaim was a city northeast of Israel, an insignificant border town compared to the nation they were about to face, Assyria. Lebo-hamath was to the north, and the Arabah Valley to the south. The entire nation would be destroyed by Assyria (2 Kings 17).