[1] I saw the LORD standing beside the altar, and he said: "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. [7] "Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel?" says
the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the
Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? [8] Behold, the eyes of
the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the
surface of the ground; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of
Jacob," says the LORD. [9] "For lo, I will command, and shake the house of
Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble
shall fall upon the earth. [10] All the sinners of my people shall die by
the sword, who say, `Evil shall not overtake or meet us.' [11] "In that day
I 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] that
they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by
my name," says the LORD who does this. [13] "Behold, the days are coming,"
says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader
of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and
all the hills shall flow with it. [14] I will restore the fortunes of my
people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make
gardens and eat their fruit. [15] I will plant them upon their land, and
they shall never again be plucked up out of the land which I have given
them," says the LORD your God.
