The people of Israel/Samaria practice religious rituals but have no interest in God.
Amos 6:1-2, Woe!
Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!
Go to Calneh and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,
and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
Both Jewish kingdoms: Judah/Zion and Israel/Samaria are addressed. Go look at other kingdoms and compare, says Amos. The Israelite kingdoms may have had a few more luxuries than their neighbors (and were probably larger?) but their moral disintegration was the same.
The name Calneh is unclear. The consonants of the word appear in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:10 where the NIV spells it Kalneh. Both the NIV and McComiskey suggest the word could also be translated "all of them." A very similar word appears in Isaiah 10:9, in a similar passage (which also mentions Hamath.) A slip of a consonant ("assimilate the l") gives Kanneh from Ezekiel 27:23.
Hamath was east of Israel in Syria, while Gath, the home of Goliath, was west, near the Mediterranean coast.
Amos 6:3-6, The dangers of luxury
You put off the evil day
and bring near a reign of terror.
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.
You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Luxury abounds but no concern for their country (called Joseph here.) Amos gives vivid example of the opullience of Israel: fancy beds and couches, gorgeous dinners, beautiful music, lots of wines and soft lotions. But concern for their country is absent.
Amos 6:7, First in line
Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;
your feasting and lounging will end.
The result of their luxuries and apathy will be exile. The people of Samaria believe that they are first in luxuries but they will also be the first to go into exile!
Amos 6:8-11, Fortresses are useless
The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself--the LORD God Almighty declares:
"I abhor the pride of Jacob
and detest his fortresses;
I will deliver up the city and everything in it."
If ten men are left in one house, they too will die. And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, "Is anyone with you?" and he says, "No," then he will say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."
For the LORD has given the command,
and he will smash the great house into pieces
and the small house into bits.
The fortresses of Jacob/Israel/Samaria are useless. The city of Samaria, itself, will fall to an enemy. The great houses will be shattered and the small house disintegrate into dust.
Amos gives a sudden interlude in verses 9 and 10, describing a strange event in which people are afraid to mention the name of YHWH, as if YHWH might not be done with His wrath.
Amos 6:12-14, Rocky crags
Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow there with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness--
you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar
and say, "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?"
For the LORD God Almighty declares,
"I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel,
that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath
to the valley of the Arabah."
Of course rocky crags are not the right place for running horses or plowing oxen. Just as ridiculous in the "justice" and "righteousness" of Israel, which is, instead, poison and bitterness.
Lo Debar and Karnaim were likely "sites of recent victories in Jeroboam's incursion into Aramean territory" (McComiskey.) There is significant wordplay here. A direct translation of the Hebrew text of verse 13 would say "You who rejoice of nothing over Lo Debar..." when "Lo Debar" means "no thing." The Hebrew word Karnaim means "horns", a euphemism for "strength", which also appears at the end of that line. Amos says, in essence,
"You think it no thing to take No Thing and believe your own strength took Strength."
Some Random Thoughts
Verses 3 to 6, in the middle of this chapter, could easily describe the country I live in. Indeed, the house and life I live.
First published July 2, 2025; updated July 2, 2025