< 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 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 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 )
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 )
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 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 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.”
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 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.
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 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.
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 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].
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 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 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 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 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 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, who deny that disaster will touch or befall them, will die by the sword.
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.
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 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.
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 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].
Listen! The days are coming, says the Lord, when the harvest is too big to reap before it is time to plow, 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 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].
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 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.”
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.