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Judgment on Israel

I saw a vision of the Lord
standing by the temple altar,[a]
    and he said,
“Shake the columns
until the tops fall loose,
    and the doorposts crumble.
Then make the pieces fall
    on the people below.
I will take a sword and kill
    anyone who escapes.

“If they dig deep into the earth
or climb to the sky,
    I'll reach out and get them.
If they escape to the peaks
of Mount Carmel,
    I'll search and find them.
And if they hide from me
    at the bottom of the ocean,
I'll command a sea monster
    to bite them.
I'll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies
    drag them off as captives.
I'm determined to hurt them,
    not to help them.”

His Name Is the Lord

When the Lord God All-Powerful
touches the earth, it melts,
    and its people mourn.
God makes the earth rise
and then fall,
    just like the Nile River.
He built his palace in the heavens
and let its foundations
    rest on the earth.[b]
He scoops up the ocean
and empties it on the earth.
    His name is the Lord.

The Lord Is God

Israel, I am the Lord God,
    and the Ethiopians[c]
are no less important to me
    than you are.
I brought you out of Egypt,
    but I also brought
the Philistines from Crete[d]
    and the Arameans from Kir.[e]
My eyes have seen
what a sinful nation you are,
    and I'll wipe you out.
But I will leave a few
of Jacob's descendants.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

At my command, all of you
    will be sifted like grain.
Israelites who remain faithful
will be scattered
    among the nations.
And the others will be trapped
    like trash in a sifter.
10 Some of you are evil,
    and you deny
that you will ever get caught.
    But you will be killed.

The Lord's Promise to Israel

11 (A) In the future, I will rebuild
    David's fallen kingdom.
I will build it from its ruins
and set it up again,
    just as it used to be.
12 Then you will capture Edom
and the other nations
    that are mine.
I, the Lord, have spoken,
    and my words will come true.

13 You will have such a harvest
    that you won't be able
to bring in all of your wheat
    before plowing time.
You will have grapes left over
    from season to season;
your fruitful vineyards
    will cover the mountains.

14 I'll make Israel prosper again.
You will rebuild your towns
    and live in them.
You will drink wine
from your own vineyards
    and eat the fruit you grow.
15 I'll plant your roots deep
in the land I have given you,
    and you won't ever
    be uprooted again.
I, the Lord God, have spoken!

Footnotes

  1. 9.1 the temple altar: The one at Bethel.
  2. 9.6 He built … earth: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  3. 9.7 Ethiopians: The Hebrew text has “people of Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
  4. 9.7 Crete: Hebrew “Caphtor.”
  5. 9.7 Philistines … Arameans from Kir: The Philistines were Israel's enemies to the west, and the Arameans were enemies to the northeast. For Kir, see the note at 1.5.

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