Amos 6 · The Lantern

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

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!

Pass you to Calneh, and see; and from there go you 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?

You that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

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;

That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;

That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

Just as it is not proper to provide ourselves with worldly trappings like a silver vessel, or a curtain edged with purple, or a downy couch, or transparent draperies, so we act unfittingly in contriving menus that deviate in any important way from our usual diet.

There is nothing else to see happening everywhere in the world except disorder, unheralded war, unrestrained wrath and savagery exceeding all barbaric inhumanity, and there is no one suffering "by the collapse of Joseph." We bite and we devour one another, and then we have been destroyed by one another, providing pleasure to the enemies of piety.

And if I may speak of those who have undertaken the direction of souls, how many there are today who reveal their lack of the requisite qualities!

Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

The Pride of Israel

The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellence of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

And it shall happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with you? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold your tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

For, look, the LORD commands, and he will strike the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:

You which rejoice in a thing of nothing, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

But, look, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath to the river of the wilderness.

Amos6

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

The Pride of Israel