Amos Chapter 9
During a time of prosperity, this prophet from Judah preached to Israel's rich leaders about God's judgment, he insisted that they think of the poor and oppressed, before thinking of their own satisfaction.
A Conservative Version
9 : 1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. And he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake, and break them in pieces on the head of all of them, and I will kill the last of them with the sword. There shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
9 : 2 Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand shall take them, and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
9 : 3 And though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
9 : 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
9 : 5 For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell therein shall mourn. And it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again like the River of Egypt.
9 : 6 He who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault upon the earth, he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth, Jehovah is his name.
9 : 7 Are ye not as the sons of the Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says Jehovah. Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
9 : 8 Behold, the eyes of the lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Jehovah.
9 : 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, just as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel shall not fall upon the earth.
9 : 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.
9 : 11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof. And I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,
9 : 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, says Jehovah who does this.
9 : 13 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
9 : 14 And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of it. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
9 : 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says Jehovah thy God.