Chapter 6
Third Woe
1 Woe to those who are complacent in Zion,
secure on the mount of Samaria,
Leaders of the first among nations,
to whom the people of Israel turn.
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 greater than theirs?
3 You who would put off the day of disaster,
yet hasten the time of violence!
4 Those who lie on beds of ivory,
and lounge upon their couches;
Eating lambs taken from the flock,
and calves from the stall;
5 Who improvise to the music of the harp,
composing on musical instruments like David,
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
and anoint themselves with the best oils,
but are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph;
7 Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile,
and the carousing of those who lounged shall cease.
8 The Lord God has sworn by his very self—
an oracle of the Lord, the God of hosts:
I abhor the pride of Jacob,
I hate his strongholds,
and I will hand over the city with everything in it;(A)
9 Should there remain ten people
in a single house, these shall die.
10 When a relative or one who prepares the body picks up the remains
to carry them out of the house,
If he says to someone in the recesses of the house,
“Is anyone with you?” and the answer is, “No one,”
Then he shall say, “Silence!”
for no one must mention the name of the Lord.(B)
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 over rock,
or can one plow the sea with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,(C)
13 You who rejoice in Lodebar,
and say, “Have we not, by our own strength,
seized Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 Look, I am raising up against you, house of Israel—
oracle of the Lord, the God of hosts—
A nation that shall oppress you
from Lebo-hamath even to the Wadi Arabah.
Footnotes
- 6:2
- 6:10
- 6:13
- 6:14
Cross references
- 6:8 : Is 28:1–4; Jer 51:14.
- 6:10 : Zep 1:7.
- 6:12 : Am 5:7.
