< Amos 9 >
1 I saw the Lord standing on the altar: and he said, Strike the mercy-seat, and the porch shall be shaken: and cut through into the heads of all; and I will kill the remnant of them with the sword: no one of them fleeing shall escape, and no one of them, striving to save himself shall be delivered.
2 Though they hid themselves in hell, thence shall my hand drag them forth; and though they go up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. (Sheol )
3 If they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, thence will I search [them] out and take them; and if they should go down from my presence into the depths of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.
4 And if they should go into captivity before the face of their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them: and I will set mine eyes against them for evil, and not for good.
5 And the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, [is he] that takes hold of the land, and causes it to shake, and all that inhabit it shall mourn; and its destruction shall go up as a river, and shall descend as the river of Egypt.
6 [It is he] that builds his ascent up to the sky, and establishes his promise on the earth; who calls the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth; the Lord Almighty is his name.
7 Are not you to me as the sons of the Ethiopians, O children of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of the deep?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the kingdom of sinners, and I will cut it off from the face of the earth; only I will not utterly cut off the house of Jacob, says the Lord.
9 For I [will] give commandment, and sift the house of Israel among all the Gentiles, as [corn] is sifted in a sieve, and [yet] a fragment shall not in any wise fall upon the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Calamities shall certainly not draw near, nor come upon us.
11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it, and will set up the parts thereof that have been broken down, and will build it up as in the ancient days:
12 that the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek [me], says the Lord who does all these things.
13 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the harvest shall overtake the vintage, and the grapes shall ripen at seed time; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall be planted.
14 And I will turn the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities, and shall inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and shall drink the wine from them; and they shall form gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15 And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no more be plucked up from the land which I have given them, says the Lord God Almighty.
