Amos 9

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. And he said:

Strike the capitals

so that the threshold shakes!

Break them off on the heads of them all!

Those who are left I will slay with the sword.

Not one shall get away,

no survivor shall escape.

²Though they dig down to Sheol,

even from there my hand shall take them;

Though they climb to the heavens,

even from there I shall bring them down.

³Though they hide on the summit of Carmel,

there too I will hunt them down and take them;

Though they hide from my gaze at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent to bite them.

⁴Though they go into captivity before their enemies,

there I will command the sword to slay them.

I will fix my gaze upon them

for evil and not for good.

⁵The Lord God of hosts,

Who melts the earth with his touch,

so that all who dwell on it mourn,

So that it will all rise up like the Nile,

and subside like the river of Egypt;

⁶Who has built his upper chamber in heaven,

and established his vault over the earth;

Who summons the waters of the sea

and pours them upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is his name.

⁷Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,

O Israelites?—oracle of the Lord —

Did I not bring the Israelites from the land of Egypt

as I brought the Philistines from Caphtor

and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸See, the eyes of the Lord God are on this sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth—

But I will not destroy the house of Jacob completely—

oracle of the Lord .

⁹For see, I have given the command

to sift the house of Israel among all the nations,

As one sifts with a sieve,

letting no pebble fall to the ground.

¹⁰All sinners among my people shall die by the sword,

those who say, “Disaster will not reach or overtake us.”

VI. EPILOGUE: RESTORATION UNDER A DAVIDIC KING

¹¹On that day I will raise up[#These verses are most likely an editorial supplement to Amos, added to bring the book into harmony with the positive thrust of the prophetic books in general, especially those written after the exile, when the final edition of Amos was probably completed. The editors would have seen the destruction of Samaria in 722/721 B.C. as the fulfillment of Amos’s prophecies, but in this epilogue they express the view that destruction was not the Lord’s final word for Israel. In Acts 15:15–17, James interprets this passage in a messianic sense. : the Davidic kingdom, which included what later became the divided Northern and Southern Kingdoms. : lit., “all nations over whom my name has been pronounced.” This idiom denotes ownership.]

the fallen hut of David;

I will wall up its breaches,

raise up its ruins,

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹²That they may possess the remnant of Edom,

and all nations claimed in my name—

oracle of the Lord , the one who does this.

¹³Yes, days are coming—

oracle of the Lord —

When the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps

and the vintager, the sower of the seed;

The mountains shall drip with the juice of grapes,

and all the hills shall run with it.

¹⁴I will restore my people Israel,

they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,

Plant vineyards and drink the wine,

set out gardens and eat the fruits.

¹⁵I will plant them upon their own ground;

never again shall they be plucked

From the land I have given them—

the Lord , your God, has spoken.