3:10 “They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.)
“They store up 1 the spoils of destructive violence 2 in their fortresses.
6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, 3
and sprawl out on their couches.
They eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the middle of the pen.
6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, 4
and pour the very best oils on themselves. 5
Yet they are not concerned over 6 the ruin 7 of Joseph.
6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, 8
and the religious banquets 9 where they sprawl on couches 10 will end.
1 tn Heb “those who.”
2 tn Heb “violence and destruction.” The expression “violence and destruction” stand metonymically for the goods the oppressors have accumulated by their unjust actions.
3 tn Heb “beds of ivory.”
4 sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).
5 tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”
6 tn Or “not sickened by.”
7 sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.
8 tn Heb “they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.”
9 sn Religious banquets. This refers to the מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh), a type of pagan religious banquet popular among the upper class of Israel at this time and apparently associated with mourning. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 137-61; J. L. McLaughlin, The “Marzeah” in the Prophetic Literature (VTSup). Scholars debate whether at this banquet the dead were simply remembered or actually venerated in a formal, cultic sense.
10 tn Heb “of the sprawled out.” See v. 4.