Amos 9

¹ I saw the Lord standing at the side of the altar. ‘Strike the capitals’ he said ‘and let the roof tumble down! I mean to break their heads, every one, and all who remain I will put to the sword; not one shall get away, not one escape.

² Should they burrow their way down to Sheol, my hand shall haul them out; should they scale the heavens, I will drag them down;

³ should they hide on Carmel’s peak, there I will track them down and catch them; should they hide from my sight on the sea bed, I will tell the Dragon to bite them there;

⁴ should they go into exile driven before their enemies, I will order the sword to slaughter them there; and my eyes will be on them for their misfortune, not their good.’

⁵ The Lord Yahweh of Sabaoth-he touches the earth and it melts, and all its inhabitants mourn; it all heaves, like the Nile, and subsides, like the river of Egypt.

⁶ He has built his high dwelling place in the heavens and supported his vault on the earth; he summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the land. Yahweh is his name.

⁷ ‘Are not you and the Cushites[*a] all the same to me, sons of Israel?-it is Yahweh who speaks. Did not I, who brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, bring the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Aramaeans from Kir?

⁸ Now, my eyes are turned on the sinful kingdom, to wipe it off the face of the earth.

⁹ For now I will issue orders and shake the House of Israel among all the nations, as you shake a sieve so that not one pebble can fall on the ground.

¹⁰ All the sinners of my people are going to perish by the sword, all those who say, “No misfortune will ever touch us, nor even come anywhere near us”.

¹¹ ‘That day I will re-erect the tottering hut of David, make good the gaps in it, restore its ruins and rebuild it as it was in the days of old,

¹² so that they can conquer the remnant of Edom and all the nations that belonged to me. It is Yahweh who speaks, and he will carry this out.

¹³ ‘The days are coming now-it is Yahweh who speaks-when harvest will follow directly after ploughing, the treading of grapes soon after sowing, when the mountains will run with new wine and the hills all flow with it.

¹⁴ I mean to restore the fortunes of my people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them, plant vineyards and drink their wine, dig gardens and eat their produce.

¹⁵ I will plant them in their own country, never to be rooted up again out of the land I have given them, says Yahweh, your God.’