< 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 upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered.
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 )
Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. (Sheol )
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.
And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence: and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall 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.”
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, 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.
And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as 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 that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon 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 not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?
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.
Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.
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 behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to 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 of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon 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 raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will 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 nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things.
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 come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.
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.
And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them.
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!
And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.