Amos 9

No escape

1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. He said:
“Strike the capital so the thresholds shake;
bring them down on everyone’s heads.
Those who remain I will kill with the sword.
No fugitive will get away; no escapee will survive. 2Even if they dig into Sheol,
my hand will take them from there.
Even if they climb to heaven,
I will bring them down from there. 3Even if they hide on Carmel’s summit,
I will search them out and take them from there.
Even if they conceal themselves from my eyes on the seabed,
I will command the serpent there to bite them. 4Even if they go into captivity before their enemies,
I will command the sword there to kill them.
I will set my eyes upon them for harm, not for good.”

The LORD of creation

5The Lord GOD of Armies
touches the earth, and it melts;
everyone living in it mourns.
The whole earth rises like the Nile
and sinks like Egypt’s Nile. 6He builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth.
He calls for the sea’s waters
and pours them over the earth’s surface.
The LORD is his name.

Israel among the nations

7“Are you not like the Cushites to me, people of Israel?”
declares the LORD.
“Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir? 8Look, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the ground.
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the LORD. 9“I will give the command
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as something is shaken in a sieve,
without a pebble falling to the ground. 10All the sinners among my people will die by the sword—
those who say, ‘Disaster will never approach or overtake us.’

The fallen shelter raised

11On that day I will raise David’s fallen shelter,
repair its breaches, raise its ruins,
and rebuild it as in ancient days, 12so they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations over whom my name is called,”
declares the LORD, who does this. 13“Days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the grape-treader the one sowing seed.
The mountains will drip sweet wine,
and all the hills will melt. 14I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.
They will rebuild devastated cities and live in them,
plant vineyards and drink their wine,
make gardens and eat their fruit. 15I will plant them in their own ground,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the ground I have given them,”
says the LORD your God.