The Destruction of Israel
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
a“Strike the capitals until athe thresholds bshake,
cand shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
dnot one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape.
2 a“If they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
aif they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on athe top of Carmel,
from there I will search them out and take them;
band if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
4 aAnd if they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
band I will fix my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.”
5 The Lord God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and ait melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn,
band all of it rises like the Nile,
band sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
6 awho builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth;
bwho calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
cthe Lord is his name.
7 “Are you not like athe Cushites to me,
O people of Israel?” declares the Lord.
b“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
and cthe Philistines from dCaphtor and the Syrians from eKir?
8 Behold, athe eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
bexcept that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “For behold, I will command,
aand shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, a‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’
The Restoration of Israel
11 “In that day aI will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 athat they may possess the remnant of Edom
and ball the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the Lord who does this.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
a“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
bthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 aI will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and bthey shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
cthey shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 aI will plant them on their land,
band they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land cthat I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.