Amos 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Destruction of Israel
9 I saw the Lord standing beside[a] the altar, and he said:
Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake
and shatter them on the heads of all the people,[b]
and those who are left I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.(A)
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.(B)
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.(C)
4 And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.(D)
5 The Lord, God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt,(E)
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.(F)
7 Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel? says the Lord.
Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?(G)
8 The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth
—except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,
says the Lord.(H)
9 For I will command
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations,
as one shakes with a sieve
but no pebble shall fall to the ground.(I)
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, “Evil shall not overtake or meet us.”(J)
The Restoration of David’s Kingdom
11 On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its[c] breaches
and raise up its[d] ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(K)
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does this.(L)
13 The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who plows shall catch up with the one who reaps
and the treader of grapes with the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.(M)
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.(N)
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.(O)
Amos 9
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Fifth Vision: The Lord Topples the Temple
9 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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 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
5 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.
6 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
7 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]
8 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.
9 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
- Amos 9:2 Hebrew sheol
- Amos 9:7 Cushites are black Africans from south of Egypt, from the territory that today is Sudan.
- Amos 9:7 That is, Crete or some other location in the Mediterranean
- Amos 9:7 The location of Kir is unknown. It is probably far to the north.
- Amos 9:9 Or kernel of grain
- 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.
- Amos 9:13 Sweet wine refers to wine that is still sweet because it has not yet been soured by continued fermentation.
- Amos 9:13 Or flow with wine
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.