Israel Will Be Destroyed
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
“·Smash [Strike] the top of the pillars
so that even the ·bottom of the doors [thresholds] will shake.
·Make the pillars fall [L Strike/Shatter them] on the people’s heads;
anyone left alive I will kill with a sword.
Not one person will get away;
no one will escape.
2 If they dig down ·as deep as the place of the dead [or into the depths of the earth; L into Sheol],
·I [L My hand] will pull them up from there.
If they climb up into heaven,
I will bring them down from there.
3 If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel,
I will ·find them [hunt them down] and ·take them away [seize them].
If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will command ·a snake [or the serpent; C perhaps the mythological beast symbolic of chaos] to bite them.
4 If they are ·captured and taken away [driven into exile] by their enemies,
I will command the sword to ·kill [slay] them.
I will ·keep watch over them [fix my eyes on them],
but ·I will keep watch to give them trouble, not to do them good [L for evil/harm, not for good/prosperity].”
5 The Lord God ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] touches the land,
and the land ·shakes [dissolves; melts].
Then everyone who lives in the land ·cries for the dead [mourns].
The whole ·land [or earth] rises like the Nile River
and ·falls [sinks; subsides] like the river of Egypt [8:8].
6 The Lord builds his ·upper rooms [or steps] ·above the skies [in the heavens];
he sets their foundations on the earth.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the ·land [L face of the earth/land; C as rain].
The Lord is his name.
7 The Lord says,
“Israel, you are no different to me than the people of Cush [C Ethiopia].
·I brought [L Did I not bring…?] Israel out of the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from ·Crete [L Caphtor],
and the Arameans [C Syrians] from Kir.
8 [L Look; T Behold] I, the Lord God, am watching the sinful kingdom [C Israel].
I will destroy it
from ·off [L the face of] the earth,
but I will not completely destroy
·Jacob’s descendants [L the house of Jacob],” says the Lord.
9 “[L For look/T behold] I am giving the command
to ·scatter [L shake] the nation of Israel among all nations.
It will be like someone shaking grain through a ·strainer [sieve],
but not even a ·tiny stone [pebble; or kernel of grain] falls ·through [L to the ground].
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword—
those who say,
‘·Nothing bad will happen to us [L Disaster will not approach and meet us].’
The Lord Promises to Restore Israel
11 In that day I will ·restore [rebuild; raise up] the ·tent [hut; shack; C referring to the weakened state of the Davidic dynasty] of David that has fallen,
and ·mend [repair] its broken places.
I will ·rebuild [restore; raise up] its ruins
as it was ·before [in days long ago/of antiquity].
12 Then Israel ·will take over [possess; conquer] ·what is left [the remnant] of Edom
and the other nations that ·belong to me [L are called by my name],”
says the Lord,
who will make it happen.
13 The Lord says, “The time is coming when there will be all kinds of food.
·People will still be harvesting crops
when it’s time to plow again [L The plowman will overtake the reaper].
·People will still be taking the juice from grapes
when it’s time to plant again [L …and the treader of grapes (will overtake) the one who sows the seed].
Wine will drip from the mountains
and pour from the hills [C symbols of great prosperity].
14 I will bring my people Israel back from ·captivity [exile];
they will build the ruined cities again,
and they will live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them;
they will plant ·gardens [or orchards] and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant my people on their land,
and they will not be ·pulled out again [uprooted]
from the land which I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.