Amos 9

¹ I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
"Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people.
Those who are left I will kill with the sword;
not one of them will flee away;
not one of them will escape.

² If they dig into Sheol,
from there my hand will take them;
if they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.

³ If they hide on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search them out and take them;
if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

⁴ If they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it will kill them.
I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good."

⁵ The Lord GOD of hosts —
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile
and sinks again like the Nile of Egypt;

⁶ who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth;
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the face of the earth —
the LORD is his name.

⁷ "Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel?" declares the LORD.
"Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor,
and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸ Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth —
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "For behold, I will command,
and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes grain in a sieve,
but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

¹⁰ All the sinners of my people will die by the sword —
those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'

¹¹ "On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that has fallen
and repair its breaches;
I will raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹² that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,"
declares the LORD who does this.

¹³ "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when the plowman will overtake the reaper,
and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.

¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

¹⁵ I will plant them on their land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them,"
says the LORD your God.