Amos 9

Israel to Be Destroyed

9I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars

so that the thresholds shake.

Bring them down on the headsⁿ of all the people;

those who are left I will kill with the sword.

Not one will get away,

none will escape.^o

²Though they dig down to the depths below,^p

from there my hand will take them.

Though they climb up to the heavens above,^q

from there I will bring them down.^r

³Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,^s

there I will hunt them down and seize them.^t

Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,^u

there I will command the serpent^v to bite them.^w

⁴Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,

there I will command the sword^x to slay them.

“I will keep my eye on them

for harm^y and not for good.^z”^a

⁵The Lord, the Lord Almighty—

he touches the earth and it melts,^b

and all who live in it mourn;

the whole land rises like the Nile,

then sinks like the river of Egypt;^c

⁶he builds his lofty palace^ad in the heavens

and sets its foundation^b on the earth;

he calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out over the face of the land—

the Lord is his name.^e

⁷“Are not you Israelites

the same to me as the Cushites^c?”^f

declares the Lord.

“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,

the Philistines^g from Caphtor^dh

and the Arameans from Kir?ⁱ

⁸“Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord

are on the sinful kingdom.

I will destroy^j it

from the face of the earth.

Yet I will not totally destroy

the descendants of Jacob,”

declares the Lord.^k

⁹“For I will give the command,

and I will shake the people of Israel

among all the nations

as grain^l is shaken in a sieve,^m

and not a pebble will reach the ground.ⁿ

¹⁰All the sinners among my people

will die by the sword,^o

all those who say,

‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’^p

Israel’s Restoration

¹¹“In that day

“I will restore David’s^q fallen shelter^r—

I will repair its broken walls

and restore its ruins^s—

and will rebuild it as it used to be,^t

¹²so that they may possess the remnant of Edom^u

and all the nations that bear my name,^ev”

declares the Lord, who will do these things.^w

¹³“The days are coming,”^x declares the Lord,

“when the reaper^y will be overtaken by the plowman^z

and the planter by the one treading^a grapes.

New wine^b will drip from the mountains

and flow from all the hills,^c

¹⁴and I will bring^d my people Israel back from exile.^fe

“They will rebuild the ruined cities^f and live in them.

They will plant vineyards^g and drink their wine;

they will make gardens and eat their fruit.^h

¹⁵I will plantⁱ Israel in their own land,^j

never again to be uprooted^k

from the land I have given them,”^l

says the Lord your God.^m