Amos 9

1 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.

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.

2 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)

Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down. (Sheol h7585)

3 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.

Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

4 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.”

Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

5 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.

The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn— all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—

6 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.

He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is His name.

7 “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?

“Are you not like the Cushites to Me, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?

8 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.

Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

9 “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.

“For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve; but not a pebble will reach the ground.

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

All the sinners among My people will die by the sword— all those who say, ‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”

11 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,

“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

12 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.

that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,”

13 “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.

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow.

14 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.

I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

15 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!

I will firmly plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land that I have given them,”