[1] I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Strike the
capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the
head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there
shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
[2] Though they dig into Sheol, there shall my hand take them; and though
they climb up to heaven, there will I bring them down. [3] Though they hide
themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and
though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I
command the serpent, and it shall bite them. [4] Though they go into
captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it
shall kill them: and I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.
[5] For the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, [is] he who touches the land and it
melts, and all who dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly
like the River, and shall sink again, like the River of Egypt; [6] [it is]
he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the
earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the
surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name. [7] Are you not as the children
of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel? says Yahweh. Haven`t I brought
up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and
the Syrians from Kir? [8] Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the
sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth;
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Yahweh. [9]
For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all
the nations, like as [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least
kernel fall on the earth. [10] All the sinners of my people shall die by
the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us. [11] In who
day will I raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up the
breaches of it; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in
the days of old; [12] who they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the
nations who are called by my name, says Yahweh who does this. [13] Behold,
the days come, says Yahweh, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and
the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains shall drop
sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. [14] I will bring back the
captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of it;
they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. [15] I will plant
them on their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land
which I have given them, says Yahweh your God.
