Destruction of the Sanctuary

¹I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and He said:[#Am 3:14]

Strike the capitals

so that the thresholds shake;

break them off onto the heads of all of them.

Those who remain I will slay with the sword.

Not one of them will get away;

not one fugitive will survive.

²Though they dig down to Sheol,

from there My hand will capture them;

though they climb up to the heavens,

from there I will bring them down;

³though they hide on the top of Carmel,[#Am 1:2]

from there I will search and catch them;

though they hide from My sight on the bottom of the sea,

from there will I command the serpent to bite them;

⁴and though they go into captivity before their enemies,

from there will I command the sword to slay them.

I will set My eyes upon them

for evil and not for good.

⁵The Lord God of Hosts,

He who touches the earth and it melts,

and all who live on it mourn;

it all rises up like the Nile,

and subsides like the river of Egypt;

⁶who builds His chambers in the heavens,

and founds His vault over the earth;

who summons the waters of the sea,

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is His name.

⁷Are you not like the Cushites to Me,

O Israelites?

says the Lord .

Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but also the Philistines from Caphtor,

and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸The eyes of the Lord God

are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it

from off the face of the earth,

though I will not completely destroy

the house of Jacob,

says the Lord .

⁹Behold, I am giving the command,

and I will sift the house of Israel

among all the nations,

as one sifts with a sieve,

and not a pebble falls to the ground.

¹⁰All the sinners of My people

will die by the sword,

those who say,

“Never will disaster reach or overtake us.”

Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom

¹¹On that day will I raise up

the hut of David that is fallen;

I will close up its breached walls,

raise up its ruins,

and rebuild it as in the days of old;

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom,[#Isa 11:14; Ob 19–21]

and of all the nations called by My name,

says the Lord who will do this.

¹³Indeed, the days are coming, says the Lord ,

when the plowman will overtake the one who is reaping,

and the treader of grapes the one who is sowing the seed;

the mountains will drip sweet wine,

and all the hills will flow with it.

¹⁴I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel;

they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

they will plant vineyards and drink their wine;

they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

¹⁵I will plant them upon their land,

and no more will they be uprooted

out of their land which I have given them.

The Lord your God has spoken.