¹ I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:


“ Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
² “ Though they dig into hell,^[a]
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
³ And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
⁴ Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”
⁵ The Lord GOD of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it melts,
And all who dwell there mourn;
All of it shall swell like the River,^[b]
And subside like the River of Egypt.
⁶ He who builds His layers in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
The LORD is His name.
⁷ “ Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the LORD.

“ Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The Philistines from Caphtor,
And the Syrians from Kir?
⁸ “ Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
Says the LORD.
⁹ “ For surely I will command,
And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,
As grain is sifted in a sieve;
Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
¹⁰ All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

¹¹ “ On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle^[c] of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old;
¹² That they may possess the remnant of Edom,^[d]
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”
Says the LORD who does this thing.
¹³ “ Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,

“ When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
And all the hills shall flow with it.
¹⁴ I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
¹⁵ I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the LORD your God.