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.

Yahweh [showed me another vision. In the vision, ] I saw him standing next to the altar. He said, “Shake the tops of the pillars [of the temple], until they become loose and fall down, so that even the foundation will shake. Then cause the [pieces of the temple] to fall down on the people [who are inside]. I will kill with a sword anyone who [tries to] flee; 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 deep pits in the ground, or if they try to climb up to the sky [in order to escape], I will reach out and grab them. (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 go to the top of Carmel [Mountain] to escape, I will search for them and seize them. If they [try to] hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the [huge] sea monster 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 their enemies [capture them and] force them to go to other countries, I will command that they be killed there with swords. I am determined [IDM] to get rid of them, not to help them.”

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.

When the Commander of the armies of angels touches the earth, it melts, and all over the earth [many people die, and the others] mourn for them. [It is as though] Yahweh causes the earth repeatedly to rise and fall like [SIM] the Nile [River] rises and falls.

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 [beautiful] palace in heaven, and sets/causes the sky to be like a dome over the earth. He scoops up the water from the ocean and [puts it into clouds], and then empties [the clouds] onto the earth. His name is Yahweh.

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?

And Yahweh says, “You people of Israel, you are certainly [RHQ] [now no more important to me] than the people of Ethiopia. I brought your [ancestors] here from Egypt, but I also brought the people of Philistia from Crete [Island], and I brought the people of Syria from the Kir [region].

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.

I [SYN], Yahweh the Lord, have seen that you people in the kingdom [of Israel] are very sinful, so I will (destroy you/wipe you off the earth). But I will not get rid of all you descendants [MTY] of Jacob. [That is what will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.

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.

When I command it, [it will be as though] I will shake you Israeli people [who are living] in various nations, like [MET] [a farmer] shakes a sieve [to separate] the stone pebbles [from the grain], in order that they do not fall on the ground [with the grain].

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

From among my people, all you sinful people who say, ‘We will not experience disasters; nothing evil will happen to us,’ will be killed by [your enemies’] swords.”

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,

“The kingdom [over which King] David [ruled has been destroyed, like] [MET] a house that collapsed and then became ruins. But some day I will cause it to be a kingdom again. I will cause it to prosper again just like it did previously.

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.

When that happens, your [armies] will seize/capture the remaining part of Edom [region] again, and they will also seize the land in other nations that previously belonged to me [MTY]. I, Yahweh, have said [that I will do these things], and I will certainly cause them to happen.

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.

There will be a time [when your crops will grow very well]. Very soon after the crops are harvested, farmers will plow the ground [to plant more crops in it again], and soon after the vineyards are planted, [farmers will harvest] grapes and tread on them [to make wine]. [And because there will be a lot of] wine, [it will seem as though] wine is flowing down from the hills [DOU].

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 cause you, my Israeli people, to prosper again. You will rebuild your towns and live in them. You will plant vineyards and then drink the wine [made from the grapes that grows in 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!

I will enable you to live [MET] in your land again, the land that I gave to [your ancestors], and never again will you be forced to leave it. [That is what will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.”