Bible Strands
Amos 6:4
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos addresses Israel’s wealthy elite during a period of self-assured complacency, directly following a warning against dismissing impending judgment and preceding a condemnation of their frivolous entertainment.
The words — The Hebrew phrase מִטּוֹת שֵׁן (mi.Tot Shen) literally means "beds of ivory," and עַרְשׂוֹתָם (ar.so.Ta/m) translates to "their couches," specifying the exact furniture and luxurious materials used for lounging.
The thread — This depiction of elite luxury and complacency echoes the lavish feasts of 1 Samuel 25:36 and the prosperity-fueled iniquity described in Psalms 73:7, while sharing Amos’s broader theme of divine judgment on the arrogant in Amos 3:12.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that material comfort and leisure do not shield against moral accountability, requiring readers to examine whether their own security breeds indifference to justice or impending judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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;
Cross-references
- Amos 3:12 This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.
- 1 Samuel 25:36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
- Psalms 73:7 From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.
- Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
- Isaiah 22:13 But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Ezekiel 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?
- Luke 12:19 Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Luke 16:19 Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- James 5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
- Romans 13:13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.