Amos pronounces “woe” on those who are at ease in Zion and feel secure on the mountain of Samaria. He describes luxury and indifference and then says they will be the first to go into exile. See Amos 6:1–7.
In Amos 6:1–3, Amos announces “woe” over leaders who feel safe and comfortable in both Zion and Samaria. He identifies them as prominent people others look to, yet their confidence is misplaced. Amos tells them to look at other well-known cities and ask whether those places were really stronger or larger than Israel and Judah. This unit sits inside Amos’s larger confrontation of Israel’s public life, where outward stability and religious identity coexist with social abuse. The “woe” cry functions like a spotlight: it singles out a specific group and names their false sense of safety.
Amos 6:1–3 targets people with real social authority who feel unusually safe: “at ease” in Zion and “secure” in Samaria (explicit). They are described as prominent figures whom “the house of Israel” looks to (explicit), so the warning is aimed at leadership culture, not private anxieties.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Amos 6:1-7, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
1Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
2Pass you to Calneh, and see; and from there go you 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?
3-you who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5who sing idle songs to the sound of the violin; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
6who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7Therefore shall they now go captive with the first who go captive; and the revelry of those who stretched themselves shall pass away.