1 I t is bad for those who are taking it easy in Zion, and for those who feel safe on the mountain of Samaria, you great men of the most important nation, to whom the people of Israel come!

2 G o over to Calneh and look. And go from there to great Hamath. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these nations? Is their land better than yours?

3 Y ou put off the day of trouble, and bring near the seat of anger.

4 H ow bad it will be for you who lie on beds of ivory and spread out upon your long seats! You eat lambs from the flock and calves from the cattle-house.

5 Y ou sing songs to the sound of the harp. Like David you write songs for yourselves.

6 Y ou drink wine from the holy dishes, and pour the best oil on yourselves. Yet you are not filled with sorrow because Joseph has been destroyed!

7 Y ou will be among the first to be taken away as prisoners to a strange land, and your happy times of rest will pass away.

8 T he Lord God has promised by Himself. The Lord God of All has said, “I hate the pride of Jacob, and I hate his strong-places, so I will give up the city and everything in it.”

9 I f ten men are left in one house, they will die.

10 T he dead man’s brother, who is to take care of the body, will lift him up to carry his bones from the house. And he will say to the one inside the house, “Is anyone else with you?” That one will say, “No.” Then he will say, “Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord must not be spoken.”

11 F or the Lord is going to say that the great house must be broken apart and the small house into pieces.

12 D o horses run on rocks? Does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned what is fair into poison. You have turned what is right and good into something bitter.

13 Y ou who have joy in Lo-debar, and say, “Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?”

14 T he Lord God of All says, “I am going to raise up a nation against you, O people of Israel. And they will bring much suffering upon you from the gate of Hamath to the river of the Arabah.”