9
1 I saw Adonoi standing by the mizbe'ach; and He said:
Strike the pillar capitals,* that the thresholds may shake;
and smash them upon the heads of all;
and I will slay the last of them with the cherev;
he that fleeth of them shall not get away,
and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
2 Though they dig down to Sheol,
thence shall Mine hand take them;
though they climb up to Shomayim,
thence will I bring them down;
3 And though they hide themselves in the summit of Carmel,
I will search and take them out thence;
and though they be hid
from My sight in the bottom of the yam,
thence will I command the nachash,
and he shall bite them;
4 And though they go into golus (exile) before their enemies,
thence will I command the cherev, and it shall slay them;
and I will set Mine eyes upon them
for rah, and not for tov.
5 And Adonoi Hashem HaTzva'os
is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt,
and all that dwell therein shall mourn;
and it shall rise up wholly like the Nile;
and sink like the Nile of Mitzrayim.
6 It is He that buildeth his ma'alot (stairs) in Shomayim,
and hath founded His aguddah (fitted together vault) over Eretz;
He that calleth for the waters of the yam,
and poureth them out upon the face of ha'aretz;
Hashem Shmo.
7 Are ye not as children of Ethiopia unto Me,
O Bnai Yisroel? saith Hashem.
Have not I brought up Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim?
And the Pelishtim (Philistines) from Caphtor,
and Aram from Kir?
8 Hinei, the eyes of Adonoi Hashem
are upon the mamlachah hachatta'ah,
and I will destroy it from off the face of ha'aretz;
nevertheless I will not utterly destroy Bais Ya'akov,
saith Hashem.
9 For, hinei, I will command, and I will sift
Bais Yisroel among all Goyim,
like as grain is sifted in a sieve,
yet shall not the least grain fall upon ha'aretz.
10 All the chatta'ei ami (sinners of My people) shall die by the cherev,
which say: The ra'ah shall not overtake nor come to us.
11 In that Yom will I raise up
the Sukkat Dovid that is fallen,
and close up the breaches thereof;
and I will raise up his ruins,
and I will build it as in the yamei olam;
12 that they may possess the she'erit Edom and all the Goyim,
which are called by Shmi,
saith Hashem, that doeth this.
13 Hinei, the yamim are coming, saith Hashem,
that the plowman shall overtake the kotzer (reaper),
and the treader of grapes him that soweth zera;
and the mountains shall drop sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 And I will bring back the captives of My people Yisroel,
and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;
and they shall plant kramim (vineyards), and drink the yayin thereof;
they shall also make gannot, and eat the p'ri of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall no more be torn up
out of their land which I have given them,
saith Hashem Eloheicha.
* 9:1 of the heathen shrine