Amos 6

New King James Version

Warnings to Zion and Samaria

6 Woe ^(A)to you who are at ^(B)ease in Zion,
And ^(C)trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the ^(D)chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
²^(E)Go over to ^(F)Calneh and see;
And from there go to ^(G)Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
^(H)Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?

³Woe to you who ^(I)put far off the day of ^(J)doom,
^(K)Who cause ^(L)the seat of violence to come near;
⁴Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
⁵^(M)Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves ^(N)musical instruments ^(O)like David;
⁶Who ^(P)drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
^(Q)But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
⁷Therefore they shall now go ^(R)captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.

⁸^(S)The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor ^(T)the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”

⁹Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. ¹⁰And when ^[a]a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the ^[b]bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?”

Then someone will say, “None.”

And he will say, ^(U)“Hold your tongue! ^(V)For we dare not mention the name of the Lord.”

¹¹For behold, ^(W)the Lord gives a command:
^(X)He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.

¹²Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet ^(Y)you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
¹³You who rejoice over ^[c]Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken ^[d]Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”

¹⁴“But, behold, ^(Z)I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the Lord God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the ^(AA)entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”

Footnotes

Amos 6:10 Lit. his loved one or uncle
Amos 6:10 Lit. bones
Amos 6:13 Lit. Nothing
Amos 6:13 Lit. Horns, a symbol of strength

James 4

New King James Version

Pride Promotes Strife

4 Where do ^[a]wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure ^(A)that war in your members? ²You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and ^[b]war. ^[c]Yet you do not have because you do not ask. ³^(B)You ask and do not receive, ^(C)because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴^[d]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that ^(D)friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(E)Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ^(F)“The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

⁶But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

^(G)“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility Cures Worldliness

⁷Therefore submit to God. ^(H)Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸^(I)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ^(J)Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and ^(K)purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹^(L)Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰^(M)Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

¹¹^(N)Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother ^(O)and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹²There is one ^[e]Lawgiver, ^(P)who is able to save and to destroy. ^(Q)Who^[f] are you to judge ^[g]another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow ^[h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? ^(R)It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵Instead you ought to say, ^(S)“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you boast in your arrogance. ^(T)All such boasting is evil.