The Destruction of Israel

1I have seen the Lord standing by the altar, and He saith: ‘Smite the knob, and the thresholds shake, And cut them off by the head — all of them, And their posterity with a sword I do slay, Not flee to them doth the fleer, Nor escape to them doth a fugitive.

2If they dig through into sheol, From thence doth My hand take them, And if they go up the heavens, From thence I cause them to come down.

3And if they be hid in the top of Carmel, From thence I search out, and have taken them, And if they be hid from Mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, From thence I command the serpent, And it hath bitten them.

4And if they go into captivity before their enemies, From thence I command the sword, And it hath slain them, And I have set Mine eye on them for evil, And not for good.

5And [it is] the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Who is striking against the land, and it melteth, And mourned have all the inhabitants in it, And come up as a flood hath all of it, And it hath sunk — like the flood of Egypt.

6Who is building in the heavens His upper chambers; As to His troop, Upon earth He hath founded it, Who is calling for the waters of the sea, And poureth them out on the face of the land, Jehovah [is] His name.

7As sons of Cushim are ye not to Me? O sons of Israel — an affirmation of Jehovah. Israel did I not bring up out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

8Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah [are] on the sinful kingdom, And I have destroyed it from off the face of the ground, Only, I destroy not utterly the house of Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah.

9For lo, I am commanding, And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, As [one] doth shake with a sieve, And there falleth not a grain [to] the earth.

10By sword die do all sinners of My people, Who are saying, ‘Not overtake, or go before, For our sakes, doth evil.’

The Restoration of Israel

11In that day I raise the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, And I have repaired their breaches, And its ruins I do raise up, And I have built it up as in days of old.

12So that they possess the remnant of Edom, And all the nations on whom My name is called, An affirmation of Jehovah — doer of this.

13Lo, days are coming — an affirmation of Jehovah, And come nigh hath the ploughman to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the scatterer of seed, And the mountains have dropt juice, And all the hills do melt.

14And I have turned back [to] the captivity of My people Israel, And they have built desolate cities, and inhabited, And have planted vineyards, and drunk their wine, And made gardens, and eaten their fruit.

15And I have planted them on their own ground, And they are not plucked up any more from off their own ground, That I have given to them, said Jehovah thy God!