Amos 6:1-14

The Fourth Address

1-3. False security of Judah and Israel.

4-6. Carelessness and luxury.

7-11. Captivity, siege, death, ruin.

12, 13. Preposterous errors.

14. The coming of the avenger.

1, 2. Render, 'Woe to the easy-going in Zion and to the secure in the mountain of Samaria! Make the round of the foremost nations and come to them, O house of Israel. Pass over to Calneh and see, and from thence go to Hamath Rabbah: then, etc. Are you better than these kingdoms? or is your border,' etc., that you should be so favoured. The site of Calneh is uncertain. Hamath is the well-known city on the Orontes. 3. They refused to think of the coming retribution; they enthroned violence in their midst.

4. Reclining at meals was a custom introduced from the farther East: contrast 1 Samuel 20:24. The grandees now 'stretched themselves,' etc.: cp. Spenser's 'Poured out in loosnesse on the grassy ground'; luxury and idleness are implied. Eat the lambs, etc.] To a frugal shepherd the feeding up of beasts for food seemed shameful extravagance: 'Seldom the nomads eat other flesh than the meat of their sacrifices; but it be some beast that will not thrive, or is likely to die on their hands' (Doughty).