Amos 9

1 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.

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 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)

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 h7585)

3 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.

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 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.”

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 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.

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 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.

[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 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].

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 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.

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 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].

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 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.”

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Calamities shall certainly not draw near, nor come upon us.

11 “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.

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 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.

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 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].

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 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].

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 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.”

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.