Chapter 9

  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.  

  Though they dig into Sheol, there shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there will I bring them down.  

  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.  

  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.  

  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;  

  [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.  

  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?  

  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.  

  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.  

  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.  

  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;  

  who they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name, says Yahweh who does this.  

  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.  

  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.  

  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.