Amos 9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,(A) and He said:
Strike the capitals of the pillars(B)
so that the thresholds shake;
knock them down on the heads of all the people.
Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword.(C)
None of those who flee will get away;(D)
none of the fugitives will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sheol,(E)
from there My hand will take them;
if they climb up to heaven,(F)
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves
on the top of Carmel,
from there I will track them down(G)
and seize them;
if they conceal themselves
from My sight on the sea floor,(H)
from there I will command
the sea serpent to bite them.(I)
4 And if they are driven
by their enemies into captivity,(J)
from there I will command
the sword to kill them.(K)
I will fix My eyes on them
for harm and not for good.(L)
5 The Lord, the God of Hosts—
He touches the earth;(M)
it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;
all of it rises like the Nile
and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.(N)
6 He builds His upper chambers
in the heavens(O)
and lays the foundation of His vault
on the earth.(P)
He summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the face of the earth.(Q)
Yahweh is His name.(R)
Announcement of Judgment
7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to Me?(S)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,[a](T)
and the Arameans from Kir?(U)
8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God
are on the sinful kingdom,(V)
and I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.(W)
However, I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob(X)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
9 for I am about to give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel(Y)
among all the nations,
as one shakes a sieve,
but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among My people(Z)
who say: “Disaster will never overtake[b]
or confront us,”(AA)
will die by the sword.
Announcement of Restoration
11 In that day
I will restore the fallen booth(AB) of David:(AC)
I will repair its gaps,
restore its ruins,(AD)
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(AE)
12 so that they may possess
the remnant of Edom(AF)
and all the nations
that are called by My name[c](AG)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
He will do this.
13 Hear this! The days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when the plowman will overtake the reaper(AH)
and the one who treads grapes,
the sower of seed.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.(AI)
14 I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel.[d](AJ)
They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities,(AK)
plant vineyards and drink their wine,
make gardens and eat their produce.(AL)
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them.(AM)
Yahweh your God has spoken.
Amos 9
New Living Translation
A Vision of God at the Altar
9 Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said,
“Strike the tops of the Temple columns,
so that the foundation will shake.
Bring down the roof
on the heads of the people below.
I will kill with the sword those who survive.
No one will escape!
2 “Even if they dig down to the place of the dead,[a]
I will reach down and pull them up.
Even if they climb up into the heavens,
I will bring them down.
3 Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel,
I will search them out and capture them.
Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean,
I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them.
4 Even if their enemies drive them into exile,
I will command the sword to kill them there.
I am determined to bring disaster upon them
and not to help them.”
5 The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
touches the land and it melts,
and all its people mourn.
The ground rises like the Nile River at floodtime,
and then it sinks again.
6 The Lord’s home reaches up to the heavens,
while its foundation is on the earth.
He draws up water from the oceans
and pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name!
7 “Are you Israelites more important to me
than the Ethiopians?[b]” asks the Lord.
“I brought Israel out of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Crete[c]
and led the Arameans out of Kir.
8 “I, the Sovereign Lord,
am watching this sinful nation of Israel.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,[d]”
says the Lord.
9 “For I will give the command
and will shake Israel along with the other nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
yet not one true kernel will be lost.
10 But all the sinners will die by the sword—
all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
A Promise of Restoration
11 “In that day I will restore the fallen house[e] of David.
I will repair its damaged walls.
From the ruins I will rebuild it
and restore its former glory.
12 And Israel will possess what is left of Edom
and all the nations I have called to be mine.[f]”
The Lord has spoken,
and he will do these things.
13 “The time will come,” says the Lord,
“when the grain and grapes will grow faster
than they can be harvested.
Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel
will drip with sweet wine!
14 I will bring my exiled people of Israel
back from distant lands,
and they will rebuild their ruined cities
and live in them again.
They will plant vineyards and gardens;
they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
15 I will firmly plant them there
in their own land.
They will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
Footnotes
- 9:2 Hebrew to Sheol.
- 9:7a Hebrew the Cushites?
- 9:7b Hebrew Caphtor.
- 9:8 Hebrew the house of Jacob. See note on 3:13.
- 9:11a Or kingdom; Hebrew reads tent.
- 9:11b-12 Greek version reads and restore its former glory, / so that the rest of humanity, including the Gentiles— / all those I have called to be mine—might seek me. Compare Acts 15:16-17.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
