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 towering above the altar, and he commanded: Strike the tops of the pillars so that the foundations may shake, bring them down on the heads of the people below. The rest of them I will slay with the sword: no one will get away, no one 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)

If they dig down to Sheol, there will my hand take them. If they climb up to the heavens, from there will I bring 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.

If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there will I search them out and take them. If they hide out of my sight at the bottom of the sea, there will I command the sea 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.”

If they are taken into captivity by their enemies, there will I command the sword to slay them. I will keep my eye on them but 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.

It is the Lord the God of hosts, who touches the earth and it trembles, all who live on it mourn. The earth rises up like the Nile, and sinks like the Nile 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.

The one who builds in the heavens, who sets the dome of the sky over the earth, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them out on 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?

To me, Israelites, you are just like the Cushites, says the Lord. Yes, I brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, but also 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.

Behold the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom: I will destroy it from the face of the earth! But I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob, says 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 am about to give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations just as one shakes grain in a sieve, but not a pebble shall 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, who deny that disaster will touch or befall them, will die by the sword.

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,

On that day I will raise up the fallen house of David, I will wall up its gaps and raise up its ruins, I will rebuild it as it was long ago.

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.

They will possess again the rest of Edom, and all the nations which once you ruled for me, says the Lord, who will do this.

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.

Listen! The days are coming, says the Lord, when the harvest is too big to reap before it is time to plough, when the grapes cannot be all trod before it is time to sow, when the mountains will run with sweet wine, and every hill will flow with it.

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 bring back my people Israel, they will rebuild waste cities and inhabit them, plant vineyards and drink their wine, 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 plant them on their own soil, and they will never again be uprooted from their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God.