The Lord Judges Israel

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Break the tops of the pillars so that the bases shake! Break them to pieces on the heads of all the people! Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. Not one of them will get away. ² Even if they dig into the place of the dead, My hand will take them from there. Even if they go up to heaven, I will bring them down from there. ³ Even if they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will find them and take them from there. Even if they hide themselves from My eyes on the bottom of the sea, there I will tell the large sea-snake to bite them. ⁴ Even if they are taken away to a strange land by those who hate them, there I will have the sword kill them. I will set My eyes against them to hurt them, and not to bring good to them.”

⁵ The Lord God of All is the One Who touches the land and it melts. All those who live in it are filled with sorrow. All of it rises and falls like the Nile River of Egypt. ⁶ The Lord builds His upper rooms in the heavens and sets His sky over the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name.

⁷ “Are you not like the Ethiopians to Me, you people of Israel?” says the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ See, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the earth. But I will not destroy all the people of Jacob,” says the Lord.

⁹ “I will say what must be done. I will shake the people of Jacob among all the nations, as grain is shaken on a fine net. But not the smallest seed will fall to the ground. ¹⁰ All the sinners among My people who say, ‘The trouble will not catch up to us or come to us,’ will die by the sword.

Israel to Have New Life

¹¹ “In that day I will build again the tent of David that fell down. Yes, I will build it again from the stones that fell down. I will set it up again as it used to be. ¹² And so the people of Israel will own what is left of the land of Edom and all the nations that are called by My name,” says the Lord who does this.

¹³ “The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the man who plows will catch up with the man who gathers. The man who crushes the grapes will catch up with the man who plants the seed. The mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. ¹⁴ And I will return My people Israel to their riches. They will build again the cities that have been destroyed, and live in them. They will plant grape-fields and drink their wine. And they will make gardens and eat their fruit. ¹⁵ I will plant My people on their land. And they will never again be pulled up from the land I gave them,” says the Lord your God.