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Sinful Israelites Will Die by the Sword

I saw the Lord standing beside the (A)altar, and He said,

“Strike the capitals so that the (B)thresholds will quake,
And (C)break them on the heads of them all!
Then I will (D)kill the rest of them with the sword;
(E)Not one of them who can flee will flee,
And not one of them who can survive will escape.
Though they dig into (F)Sheol,
From there will My hand take them;
And though they (G)ascend to heaven,
From there will I bring them down.
And though they hide on the [a]top of Carmel,
From there I will (H)search them out and take them;
And though they (I)conceal themselves from My eyes on the floor of the sea,
From there I will command the (J)serpent, and it will bite them.
And though they go into (K)captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword that it kill them,
And I will (L)set My eyes against them for evil and not for good.”

Now Lord Yahweh of hosts,
The One who (M)touches the land so that it melts,
And (N)all those who inhabit it mourn,
And all of it rises up like the Nile
And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;
The One who builds His [b](O)upper chambers in the heavens
And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth;
The One who (P)calls for the waters of the sea
And (Q)pours them out on the face of the earth;
(R)Yahweh is His name.

“Are you not as the sons of (S)Ethiopia to Me,
O sons of Israel?” declares Yahweh.
“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,
And the (T)Philistines from Caphtor and the (U)Arameans from (V)Kir?
Behold, the (W)eyes of Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will (X)destroy it from the face of the earth;
Nevertheless, I will (Y)not totally destroy the house of Jacob,”
Declares Yahweh.
“For behold, I am commanding,
And I will (Z)shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a [c]kernel will fall to the ground.
10 All the (AA)sinners of My people will die by the sword,
Those who say, ‘(AB)The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’

Yahweh Will Rebuild Israel

11 “In that day I will (AC)raise up the fallen [d](AD)booth of David
And wall up its (AE)breaches;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the (AF)ancient days,
12 (AG)That they may possess the remnant of (AH)Edom
And all the [e]nations who are (AI)called by My name,”
Declares Yahweh who does this.

13 “Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“When the (AJ)plowman will overtake the reaper
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
When the (AK)mountains will drip [f]sweet (AL)wine
And all the hills will melt.
14 Also I will (AM)restore the [g]captivity of My people Israel,
And they will (AN)rebuild the desolated cities and live in them;
They will also (AO)plant vineyards and drink their wine
And make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will also plant them on their land,
And (AP)they will not again be uprooted from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says Yahweh your God.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 9:3 Lit head, cf. 9:1
  2. Amos 9:6 Or stairs
  3. Amos 9:9 Or pebble
  4. Amos 9:11 Or shelter, tabernacle
  5. Amos 9:12 Or Gentiles
  6. Amos 9:13 Lit freshly pressed out grape juice
  7. Amos 9:14 Or fortunes

The Fifth Vision: The Lord Topples the Temple

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

    Strike the capitals on top of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.
    Cut them off so that they fall on the heads of all the people,
    and those who survive I will kill with the sword.
    No one who flees from there will get away,
    and not a single fugitive from among them will escape.
Even if they dig down to hell,[a]
    from there my hand will seize them.
    And even if they ascend to heaven,
    from there I will bring them down.
Even if they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel,
    from there I will search for them, and I will seize them.
    Even if they hide themselves from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
    from there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
Even if they go into captivity in the presence of their enemies,
    from there I will command the sword, and it will kill them.
    And I will set my eye upon them for disaster and not for good.

The Lord Shakes the Earth

The Lord God of Armies is the one who touches the earth, so that it melts.
    All who dwell on it mourn.
    All of it rises like the Nile,
    and like the Nile of Egypt it sinks down again.
He is the one who builds his upper chambers in heaven.
    He set the foundation for his vault upon the earth.
    He is the one who summons the waters of the sea
    and pours them out over the face of the earth—
    the Lord is his name.

The Final Judgment

Are you not like Cushites[b] to me, you children of Israel?
    declares the Lord.
    Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt
    and the Philistines from Caphtor[c]
    and the Arameans from Kir?[d]
Look, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
    and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
    But I will never completely destroy the house of Jacob,
    declares the Lord.
Listen! I am giving a command,
    and among all the nations I will shake the house of Israel
        as the contents of a sieve are shaken,
    and not even one pebble[e] will fall out to the ground.[f]
10 By a sword, all the sinners among my people will die,
    those who are saying, “Disaster will not overtake us. It will not confront us.”

The Restoration of David’s Fallen Shelter

11 In that day I will raise up the fallen shelter of David.

I will repair the broken parts of its walls,

and I will raise up its ruins.

I will rebuild it as in days of old,

12 so that they will possess what remains of Edom,

that is, all the nations who are called by my name,

declares the Lord, who is doing this.

13 Look, days are coming, declares the Lord,

when the plowman will catch up with the reaper,

and the one who tramples grapes will catch up with the one sowing the seed.

The mountains will drip sweet wine,[g]

and all the hills will wave with grain.[h]

14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and they will rebuild the desolate cities and dwell in them.

They will plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

15 I will plant them in their soil,

and they will never again be uprooted from the soil

that I have given to them,

says the Lord your God.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 9:2 Hebrew sheol
  2. Amos 9:7 Cushites are black Africans from south of Egypt, from the territory that today is Sudan.
  3. Amos 9:7 That is, Crete or some other location in the Mediterranean
  4. Amos 9:7 The location of Kir is unknown. It is probably far to the north.
  5. Amos 9:9 Or kernel of grain
  6. Amos 9:9 The people of Israel are being sorted through a sieve. It is not clear whether those kept in the sieve are the pebbles that cannot escape judgment or the grains that are being separated from the chaff, which will be burned. The judgment is the same in either case.
  7. Amos 9:13 Sweet wine refers to wine that is still sweet because it has not yet been soured by continued fermentation.
  8. Amos 9:13 Or flow with wine