Amos 6:1-14

Amos 6:1-14
1 ¶ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! “Woe” means “stop, pay attention to what is being said here”.
2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border? Calneh was a very powerful city-state that was just taken over by the Syrians. This city of Hamath is another great city-state. Gath was a city in the south, so Amos covers the whole territory of Israel, north to south. He says pay attention to these big cities, see what happened to them. The same can happen to you.
3 -ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; Israel doesn't want to hear the warning. They feel the violence and destruction is too far away from them and it won't bother them. Amos says with this attitude, God will bring judgement faster. Never think you're too big for God to humble you quickly and completely.
4 that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; In the northern 10 tribes and Samaria, archeologists have found numerous pieces of ivory, inlays and such. Ivory indicated wealth. These people were living the life of luxury and sexual immorality. They were eating high on the hog, had the best of everything. They were the wealthy ruling class, unparalleled to any at that time.
5 that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for...