1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:u

“Smite the capitals until the thresholds shake,

and shatter them on the heads of all the people;*

and what are left of them I will slay with the sword;

not one of them shall flee away,

not one of them shall escape.

2 “Though they dig into Sheol,

from there shall my hand take them;

though they climb up to heaven,

from there I will bring them down.

3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,

from there I will search out and take them;

and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies,

there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them;

and I will set my eyes upon them

for evil and not for good.”

5 The Lord, GOD of hosts,

he who touches the earth and it melts,

and all who dwell in it mourn,

and all of it rises like the Nile,

and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens,

and founds his vault upon the earth;

who calls for the waters of the sea,

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is his name.