The Destruction of Israel
1
I saw the Lord standing besidea the altar, and he said: 1"Strike the capitals until 2the thresholds 3shake, 4and shatter them on the heads of all the people;b and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; 5not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.
2
6"If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; 7if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
3
If they hide themselves on 8the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; 9and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
4
10And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; 11and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."
5
The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and 12it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, 13and all of it rises like the Nile, 14and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
6
15who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; 16who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth-- 17the LORD is his name.
7
"Are you not like 18the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?" declares the LORD. 19"Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and 20the Philistines from 21Caphtor and the Syrians from 22Kir?
8
Behold, 23the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, 24except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD.
9
"For behold, I will command, 25and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
10
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 26'Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.'
The Restoration of Israel
11
"In that day 27I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12
28that they may possess the remnant of Edom and 29all the nations who are called by my name,"c declares the LORD who does this.
13
"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, 30"when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; 31the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)