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saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:
“Strike the capitals at the top of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people,
and any who survive I will kill with the sword.
None of those who flee will get away,
not one of them will escape.
2 “Though they dig down to Sheol,
from there My hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will track them down and seize them.
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the sea serpent to bite them.
4 Though they go into exile before their captors,
from there I will command the sword to slay them.
I will fix My eyes on them
for harm and not for good.
5 The Lord, the God of Hosts—
He who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile
and then sinks like the river of Egypt.”
6 He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens
and sets the foundations of His vault on the earth;
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the earth—
the Lord is His name.
7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth,
but I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “For I will give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations,
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among My people
will die by the sword,
all who say,
‘Disaster will never overtake us or confront us’.
11 “On that day I will restore
David’s fallen tabernacle.
I will repair its gaps,
restore its ruins,
and rebuild it as it used to be in the days of old,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that are called by My name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the ploughman will overtake the reaper,
and the one treading grapes by the one planting seeds.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will bring back the exiles of My people Israel,
and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.