Amos 9

1 Then I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the tops of the Temple pillars so that the foundations shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people below. Those who survive I will kill by the sword. None of them will escape, not a single one.

I have seen the Lord standing by the altar, and He says, “Strike the knob, and the thresholds shake, And cut them off by the head—all of them, And I slay their posterity with a sword, None that flee of them flee away, Nor a fugitive of them escape.

2 Even if they dig down into Sheol, I will catch them and pull them up. Even if they climb up to heaven, I will bring them down. (Sheol h7585)

If they dig through into Sheol, From there My hand takes them, And if they go up [to] the heavens, From there I cause them to come down. (Sheol h7585)

3 Even if they hide themselves at the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them and catch them. Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the sea serpent to bite them.

And if they are hid in the top of Carmel, From there I search out, and have taken them, And if they are hid from My eyes in the bottom of the sea, From there I command the serpent, And it has bitten them.

4 Even if they are driven into exile by their enemies, I will order them put to death by the sword. I will watch them carefully—and for evil, not for good.

And if they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I command the sword, And it has slain them, And I have set My eye on them for evil, And not for good.”

5 The Lord God of power touches the earth and it melts, and all who live there mourn. The earth rises up like the Nile river in flood, and then falls again.

And [it is] the Lord, YHWH of Hosts, Who is striking against the land, and it melts, And mourned have all the inhabitants in it, And all of it has come up as a flood, And it has sunk—like the flood of Egypt.

6 The Lord builds his upper rooms in heaven, and places the foundations on the earth. He calls for the water of the seas, and pours it down as rain upon the earth—the Lord is his name!

Who is building His upper chambers in the heavens; As for His troop, On earth He has founded it, Who is calling for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the land, YHWH [is] His Name.

7 Aren't the Ethiopians as important to me as you, people of Israel? asks the Lord. Yes, I brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir.

“Are you not as sons of Cushim to Me, O sons of Israel?” A declaration of YHWH. “Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

8 Watch out! I'm watching this sinful kingdom. I will eradicate it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not completely destroy the descendants of Jacob.

Behold, [the] eyes of Lord YHWH [are] on the sinful kingdom, And I have destroyed it from off the face of the ground, Only, I do not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” A declaration of YHWH.

9 See what I'm doing! I will give the command, and the people of Israel will be shaken among the nations like flour through a sieve, and nothing will fall to the ground.

“For behold, I am commanding, And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, As [one] shakes with a sieve, And there does not fall a grain [to] the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people will be killed by the sword—all those who say, “Nothing bad is going to happen; no disaster will fall on us.”

By sword all sinners of My people die, Who are saying, Evil does not overtake, or go before, For our sakes.

11 On that day I will restore the fallen kingdom of David; I will repair the broken walls, I will rebuild the ruins, and I will make it as it was in days of old.

In that day I raise the dwelling place of David that is fallen, And I have repaired their breaches, And I raise up its ruins, And I have built it up as in days of old,

12 And they will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations that were once mine, declares the Lord. He will make this happen.

So that they possess the remnant of Edom, And all the nations on whom My Name is called,” A declaration of YHWH—the doer of this.

13 Look! The time is coming, says the Lord, when the reaper will overtake the plowman, and the one who treads the grapes will overtake the one who sows the seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and flow from all the hills.

“Behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And the plowman has come near to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the scatterer of seed, And the mountains have dropped juice, And all the hills melt.

14 I will bring my people back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and they shall live in them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will plant gardens and eat the fruit they produce.

And I have turned back [to] the captivity of My people Israel, And they have built desolate cities, and inhabited, And have planted vineyards, and drunk their wine, And made gardens, and eaten their fruit.

15 I will plant them in their own land, and they shall never be uprooted again from the land I have given them, declares the Lord your God.

And I have planted them on their own ground, And they are not plucked up anymore from off their own ground, That I have given to them,” said your God YHWH!