The Destruction of Israel

1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:
“Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.

2Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.

3Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent ³⁴to bite them.

4Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

5The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts,
and all its dwellers mourn— all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—

6He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth.
The LORD is His name.

7“Are you not like the Cushites ³⁵to Me, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, ³⁶and the Arameans from Kir?

8Surely 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,” declares the LORD.

9“For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve;
but not a pebble will reach the ground.

10All the sinners among My people will die by the sword— all those who say, ‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”

A Promise of Restoration

11“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

12that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,” ³⁷declares the LORD, who will do this.

13“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow.

14I will restore My people Israel from captivity; ³⁸they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

15I will firmly plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted
from the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.