1Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel safe on the mountain of Samaria. They are the leading men of the chief nation, and the house of Israel comes to them.
2Go over to Calneh and look. From there go on to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Is their land larger than your land?
3You push away the evil day, and you bring the seat of violence near.
4You lie on beds of ivory and stretch yourselves out on your couches. You eat the lambs from the flock and the calves from the stall.
5You sing to the sound of the harp, and you make up songs on instruments of music for yourselves, as David did.
6You drink wine by the bowlful and rub yourselves with the finest oils. But you are not grieved by the ruin of Joseph.
7So now they will go into captivity with the first who go, and the feasting of those who lay stretched out will come to an end.
8The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, says the LORD, the God of hosts: "I hate the pride of Jacob, and I hate his palaces. So I will hand over the city and everything in it."
9If ten men are left in one house, they too will die.
10A man's uncle will lift him up, together with the one who burns the bodies, to carry the bones out of the house. He will say to the one still inside the house, "Is there anyone else with you?" And he will say, "No." Then he will say, "Be quiet. We must not speak the name of the LORD."
11For look, the LORD gives the command, and he will strike the great house until it is broken to pieces, and the little house until it is split apart.
12Do horses run on rock? Does anyone plough there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitter weeds.
13You are glad about a thing that is nothing. You say, "Have we not taken horns for ourselves by our own strength?"
14"But look, I will raise up a nation against you, house of Israel," says the LORD, the God of hosts, "and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hemath to the river of the wilderness."