Amos

11This is the message that Yahweh gave to {me,} Amos. I am a man who raises sheep, and I am from {the village of} Tekoa. Yahweh showed me in a vision this message about Israel during the time when Uzziah was the king of Judah and Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, was the king of Israel. This was two years before the {great} earthquake.

2This is the message:

Yahweh is speaking powerfully, like the roar of a lion,

from Zion, in {the middle of} Jerusalem.

He is causing the pastures where shepherds take care of their sheep to dry up,

and {even the forests on} the top of Mount Carmel will wither.

3This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Damascus have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they cruelly attacked the people of the region of Gilead,

destroying them as people crush grain with iron-toothed threshing tools.

4So I will send fire to {destroy} {that place, including} the palace that {their king} Hazael built,

and it will burn down the fortresses where {his son, their king} Ben-Hadad, has his armies.

5I will smash the {gate} bars {that protect the city} of Damascus,

and I will get rid of the one who sits {on the throne} in the Valley of Aven

and the king who rules in {the region of} Beth Eden.

The people of Aram will become captives and will go to the land of Kir,”

says Yahweh.

6This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of the city of Gaza have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they captured whole people groups and took them away

in order to sell them {as slaves} to the people of Edom.

7So I will send fire to {destroy} the walls of Gaza,

and it will burn down the fortresses of that city.

8I will get rid of the one who sits {on the throne} in the city of Ashdod

and the king who rules in {the city of} Ashkelon.

I will also powerfully punish the people of {the city of} Ekron,

and all the people of {the region of} Philistia who are still alive will die,”

says my Lord Yahweh.

9This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of {the city of} Tyre have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they {also} captured whole people groups and took them away to Edom,

and they ignored the treaty that they had made with another nation.

10So I will send fire to {destroy} the walls of Tyre,

and it will burn down the fortresses of that city.”

11This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Edom have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they attacked the people {of Israel,} who descended from Esau’s brother Jacob, {and killed them} with swords.

They did not act mercifully toward them at all.

They were constantly wrathful {to the people of Israel},

and they kept encouraging each other to stay angry {with the people of Israel} always.

12So I will send fire to {destroy} {the region of} Teman,

and it will burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Bozrah.”

13This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Ammon have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because their soldiers {even} ripped open the pregnant women of {the region of} Gilead

{when they attacked it} in order to enlarge their own territory.

14So I will start a fire that will destroy the walls of the city of Rabbah,

and it will burn down the fortresses of that city.

During that battle, the enemies will shout loudly.

They will come as quickly and violently as a strong windstorm.

15Then the king of Ammon will become a captive and will go to another country,

and his officials will go with him,”

says Yahweh.

21This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Moab have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they burned the bones of the king of Edom

until only lime remained.

2So I will send a fire to {destroy} {the nation of} Moab,

and it will burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Kerioth.

Many people of Moab will die while soldiers shout,

blow the ram’s horn, and destroy Moab.

3I will get rid of the ruler of Moab,

and I will kill all of Moab’s leaders along with him.

That is what I, Yahweh, say.”

4This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Judah have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they have rejected the instructions that I, Yahweh, gave them,

and they have not obeyed my commands.

The false gods that they worship have deceived them,

the same false gods that their ancestors chose to worship.

5So I will send a fire to {destroy} {the nation of} Judah,

and it will completely burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Jerusalem.”

6This is what Yahweh says,

“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,

so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it,

because they sell good people in order to get silver,

and {they sell} needy people to get a pair of sandals.

7They oppress poor people as though they are crushing them into the dirt,

and they are unjust to people who are suffering.

A man and his father both have sexual relations with the same {servant} girl,

and so they dishonor me, the holy God.

8They take the cloaks from poor people {as a guarantee that those people would repay what they had borrowed}. Then{, instead of returning them at the end of the day,} they lie down on them beside the altars {where they worship}.

They force people to pay fines to them, and then {use the money to} buy wine that they drink in the temple of their God.

9But I am the one who destroyed the Amorite people group on behalf of your ancestors,

even though those people were very tall like cedar trees

and very strong like oak trees.

I destroyed them completely.

10I am the one who brought you Israelite people from {being slaves in} the land of Egypt,

and then I led your ancestors through the wilderness for forty years,

so that I could give you the land of the Amorite people as your own.

11{Over the years,} I chose some of your young men to become prophets,

and others to be Nazirites.

You Israelite people certainly know that this is true! This is what I, Yahweh, declare.

12But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine,

and you commanded the prophets to not tell people the messages that I, Yahweh, give to them!

13So now I will make you unable to escape what will happen to you right where you are,

just as a cart loaded with too much grain cannot move from where it is.

14{At that time,} {even} people who can run quickly will not be able to escape,

and {even} strong people will not be strong enough,

and {even} warriors will not be able to rescue themselves.

15{Even} those who shoot arrows will not be able to stand {and do so},

and {even} those who can run quickly will not be able to escape,

and {even} those who have a horse to ride will not be able to save themselves.

16At that time, {even} the bravest of the mighty men

will run away naked.

This is what I, Yahweh, declare.”

31You people of Israel, listen to this message that Yahweh has spoken against you. He is speaking against all of the descendants of the people whom he brought up out of the land of Egypt. He says this:

2“From among all of the families of people on the earth,

I chose only you to belong to me.

That is why I must now punish you

for all of the ways that you have sinned.”

3Two people do not travel together

unless they have agreed to do that.

4A lion does not roar in the forest

unless it has caught an animal to eat,

and a young lion does not growl in its den

unless it has caught something.

5A bird does not get caught in a trap on the ground

unless someone has set a trap for it,

and a trap does not spring up to catch {an animal}

if there is nothing to catch.

6If someone blows {an alarm} on a ram’s horn in a city,

the people there become afraid,

and if something terrible happens in a city,

then Yahweh has done it.

7In the same way, the Lord Yahweh does not do something

unless he has first revealed his plans to his servants the prophets.

8When a lion roars,

everyone is afraid;

similarly, when the Lord Yahweh speaks,

the prophets must proclaim what he says.

9{Yahweh says,} “Announce this to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the city of Ashdod

and to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the land of Egypt.

Say to them, ‘Gather together on the hills around the city of Samaria,

and see how the people there are panicking,

and how the powerful people are oppressing the other people there.’”

10Yahweh declares, “The people who live in Samaria do not know how to do what is right.

They violently rob other people, and they fill their fortresses with the things that they steal.”

11So this is what the Lord Yahweh says {to them},

“An enemy army will come and surround your land.

They will tear down your fortifications,

and they will carry away the valuable things in your fortresses.”

12This is what Yahweh says,

“When a lion attacks a sheep,

sometimes a shepherd can grab from the lion only two legs of the sheep or a piece of its ear.

Similarly, only a few of you people of Israel who live in Samaria will survive,

along with only a side of a bed or a piece of a couch.”

13The Lord Yahweh, the God who commands the armies of angels, declares, “Listen, and warn the descendants of Jacob:

14Be aware that when I punish the people of Israel for the sins that they have committed,

I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.

I will cut off the horns that are on {the corners of} the {main} altar,

and they will fall to the ground.

15I will tear down the houses where people live in the winter and the houses where they live in the summer.

I will destroy the {beautiful} houses that they have decorated with ivory.

I will destroy the mansions.

This will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

41Listen to this message, you {wealthy} women of {the city of} Samaria!

You have indulged yourselves and grown fat, just as the cattle in {the region of} Bashan grow fat.

You oppress poor people,

and you cause needy people to suffer.

Then you say to your husbands,

“Bring us {more wine} to drink!”

2{But} Yahweh our Lord says, “Because I am holy, I solemnly promise this:

Indeed the time is coming when

your enemies will capture you and take you away, {as easily} as someone catches fish with hooks.

They will do this to every last one of you.

3The enemies will break through your city walls, and then each of you women will go straight out through the gap in front of her.

Each of you will flee toward Harmon.

I, Yahweh, declare that this will happen.

4{You act like I am telling you this:} Go to {the town of} Bethel and sin!

Go to {the town of} Gilgal and sin even more!

Bring your animal sacrifices {to the altars there} every morning,

and bring a tenth of your crops every third day!

5Burn bread that contains yeast as an offering to thank me,

and announce the offerings that you bring willingly!

Make sure to loudly brag {about them}!

I say these things because that is what you Israelite people love to do.

I, Yahweh your Lord, declare this.

6I am also the one who caused you to have no food at all in any of your cities and towns,

yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again.

I, Yahweh, declare this.

7I am also the one who kept you from getting rain

when there were still three months before {your crops were ready to} harvest.

{Sometimes} I sent rain on one town

and held it back from another town.

I made it rain on some fields,

but I gave no rain to other fields, so the crops there dried up.

8People from towns without water would stagger to a town that did have water,

but they could not get enough water to drink.

But even so you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again.

I, Yahweh, declare this.

9I made your crops dry up and have disease.

Locusts ate up everything

in your many gardens and vineyards and on your fig trees and olive trees,

yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again.

I, Yahweh, declare this.

10I made many of you become diseased, just as I had done to {the people of} Egypt {long ago}.

I caused your enemies to kill your young men in wars, and I let your enemies capture your horses.

I made you smell the stench {of their corpses} in the camps {where they died},

yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again.

I, Yahweh, declare this.

11I destroyed some of you, just as I destroyed {the cities of} Sodom and Gomorrah {long ago}.

{Those of} you {who survived} were like a burning stick that someone grabs out of a fire {before it burns up completely},

yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again.

I, Yahweh, declare this.

12Because of that, you people of Israel, this is what I am going to do to you.

And because I am going to do this to you,

prepare to {truly} meet me, your God, people of Israel!”

13Prepare yourselves, because this is who he is: he is the one who formed the mountains and who creates the wind.

He reveals to people what they are thinking.

He makes the morning light and the darkness.

Even the highest mountains are small things to him.

He is Yahweh, God who commands the heavenly armies; that is his name!

51You people of Israel, listen to this sad funeral song

that I am singing about you:

2Enemies have devastated my dear people of Israel,

and they are unable to defend themselves.

The enemies have come into their land and can do to them whatever they want to do there.

There is no one to help them.

3You will need this sad funeral song because Yahweh our Lord says this about Israel,

“When your enemies attack you, a town that sends out a thousand soldiers to fight

will have only a hundred who survive,

and a town that sends out a hundred soldiers

will have only ten who survive.”

4But Yahweh also says this to you people of Israel,

“Sincerely worship me again, and then you will live.

5Do not go to the town of Bethel {to worship anything there},

and do not go to the town of Gilgal,

and do not travel to the town of Beersheba {to worship there, either}.

Your enemies will certainly take the people of Gilgal away to a foreign country,

and the people of Bethel will experience evil things because they worship evil things.”

6Sincerely worship Yahweh again, and then you will live.

If you do not do that, Yahweh will punish you descendants of Joseph as suddenly and fiercely as a fire spreads.

Yahweh will punish you like a fire that destroys everything, and that no one in Bethel will be able to stop.

7{I am talking to you} people who do not decide things fairly. Instead, you make life {as bitter as the taste of} wormwood for people.

You consider that living in the right way is {as worthless as trash} on the ground.

8There is one who created {the star groups that people call} the Pleiades and Orion.

{Every morning} he turns the darkness into daylight,

and {every evening} he turns the daylight into darkness.

He summons the waters in the sea

and pours them out {as rain} on the surface of the earth.

The name of that one is Yahweh!

9He suddenly destroys strong people,

and destroys the strong walls of cities.

10You people hate any leader who officially corrects people who do wrong,

and you hate anyone who tells the truth.

11So, because you oppress poor people

and force them to give you part of their grain, this is what will happen:

Although you have built large mansions out of cut stone,

you will not live in them.

Although you have planted pleasant vineyards,

you will not drink the wine that comes from them.

12This will happen because I know that you have sinned very many times,

and that the things that you have done are terrible.

You oppress people who do what is right, and you accept bribes {to do what is wrong},

and at the city gate {where leaders decide legal matters} you treat poor people unjustly and send them away.

13So at that time, wise people will be quiet,

because it will be customary in that time for people to do evil things.

14Start doing what is good, and stop doing what is evil,

in order that you may stay alive.

If you do that, Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, will help you,

just as you claim that he does.

15Hate what is evil, and love what is good,

and make sure that people decide things fairly at the city gate{where leaders decide legal matters}.

If you do that, maybe Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies,

will act kindly toward you descendants of Joseph who are still alive.

16So this is what Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, our Lord, says,

“People will be weeping loudly in all the public squares,

and in all the streets people will cry out, ‘This is terrible! This is terrible!’

People will summon the farmers to come and mourn,

and they will summon those who lament at funerals to wail.

17People will be weeping in all the vineyards,

because I will come and punish you.” That is what Yahweh says.

18Terrible things will happen to you people who long for the day when Yahweh comes!

You should not think that the day when Yahweh comes will be good for you.

On that day Yahweh will punish you severely, and nothing good will happen to you.

19On that day, you will be like a man who runs away from a lion

but then meets a bear;

or who flees into his house and rests his hand on the wall,

and a snake bites him.

20On the day when Yahweh judges people, he will surely punish you severely and nothing good will happen to you.

Yes, it will be a time when you are deeply sad; you will not be happy at all.

21{Yahweh says,} “I hate your religious celebrations;

I completely reject them, and your assemblies {when you gather to worship} do not please me at all.

22Even if you offer to me animals that you completely burn on the altar, and offerings of grain,

I will not accept them.

Even if you offer me your best animals as fellowship sacrifices,

I will pay no attention to them.

23Your songs are just noise to me; stop singing them.

I refuse to listen to the music that you play on your harps.

24Instead, you should be treating people justly,

and you should always be doing what is right.

You should be doing these things continually, like a stream of water that flows and never stops.

25You people of Israel, when your ancestors traveled through the wilderness for forty years,

they did not bring animal sacrifices and grain offerings to me.

26Instead, you have carried the idols that you made for yourselves:

Sikkuth, the god you treated as your king,

and Kiyyun, the star-god that you worshiped.

27So I will force you to go far away, beyond the city of Damascus, into exile.”

That is what the one whose name is Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, says.

61Terrible things will happen to you people in Zion who do not worry about anything,

and also to you leaders in the city of Samaria who think that you are safe there.

You are the prominent men of {Israel,} the nation that thinks it is the most important nation of all.

You are the men to whom the people of Israel come {for you to help them}.

2Go and look at the city of Calneh.

Then go on to the city of Hamath Rabbah,

and then go down to the city of Gath in Philistia.

Those cities are not better than your kingdoms,

and their territory is not larger than yours.

3{Terrible things will happen to} you who refuse to think about the day when Yahweh will punish you,

but by your own actions you are shortening the time before violent people will come and rule over you.

4{Terrible things will happen to} you who lie on expensive beds and lounge on your couches,

eating the meat of the most special sheep from your flocks and of the {fattened} calves from your stalls.

5{Terrible things will happen to} you who sing idly to the sound of your harps

and try to be like King David by inventing musical instruments for yourselves.

6{Terrible things will happen to}you who drink wine by the bowlful and rub the finest oils on your skin,

but who do not grieve at all that the descendants of Joseph are destroying themselves.

7Because of all of that, soon you will be among the first ones whom your enemies will force to go into exile,

and your feasting and lounging on couches will come to an end.

8The Lord Yahweh has solemnly sworn this on his own life. Yes, Yahweh, {the commander} of the heavenly armies, declares it,

“I despise {the nation} of which the descendants of Jacob are so proud,

and I hate their fortresses.

So I will deliver each city and everyone in it {to their enemies}.”

9When that happens, even if only ten men remain in a single house, they will all die. 10A dead man’s relative, the one who will burn his corpse, will carry the dead body out of the house. He will call to anyone still {hiding} in the farthest corner of the house, “Is anyone else there with you?” That person will answer, “No one.” Then the relative will say, “Say no more! Especially we must not mention Yahweh’s name!”

11The reason is this: Yahweh is about to command {the enemy soldiers to attack you},

and they will shatter all the houses, from large to small ones, into little pieces.

12Horses do not gallop on rocky cliffs, and no one plows there with oxen.

Yet you have done something {even more absurd}:

instead of treating people justly, you kill them,

and instead of doing good things for each other, you make each other angry and resentful.

13You are proud because you captured the town of Lo Debar,

and you boast, “We captured the town of Karnaim for ourselves because we are so strong!”

14But this is what Yahweh, {the commander} of the heavenly armies, declares,

“Listen, you people of Israel! I am about to bring a foreign nation to attack you.

Its army will oppress you {throughout your entire land,} from Lebo Hamath {in the far north} to the brook of the Arabah {in the far south}.”

71Yahweh our Lord showed me a vision. In the vision, he was forming a swarm of locusts {to destroy our crops}. This was happening right after the workers had harvested the king’s share of the hay, when the second crop of the season was just starting to grow. 2In the vision, when the locusts had finished eating everything green in the land, I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please forgive {us}! We people of Jacob are weak and helpless; we will not be able to survive this!” 3So Yahweh changed his mind about this. Yahweh said, “This will not happen.”

4Then Yahweh our Lord showed me another vision. In it, Yahweh our Lord was summoning fire to punish {his people}. The fire dried up the great deep waters and then was burning up the land. 5Then I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please stop! We people of Jacob will not be able to survive this, because we are weak and helpless!” 6So Yahweh changed his mind about this also. Lord Yahweh said, “This will not happen, either.”

7Then Yahweh showed me another vision. In it, I saw the Lord standing beside a wall. Someone had built the wall very straight, using a plumb line. Yahweh was holding a plumb line in his hand. 8Yahweh asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Look, I am about to test my people the Israelites to see if they are living rightly, just as a builder uses a plumb line to see if a wall is straight.

I will no longer hold back from punishing them {for their sin}.

9I will destroy the hilltop shrines where the descendants of Isaac worship {idols},

and I will demolish the other holy places in Israel,

and I will send men with swords to end the dynasty of King Jeroboam.”

10Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent {a message} to Jeroboam, the king of Israel. {In the message} he said, “Amos is plotting against you {right here} among the people of Israel. He is saying so much against you that the people of this land cannot bear to hear it. 11In fact, this is what Amos keeps saying, ‘Someone will kill Jeroboam with a sword, and an army will force the people of Israel to leave their own land and become exiles in a foreign country.’”

12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer, get out of here! Run away to the country of Judah! Earn your living there, and do your prophesying there! 13But you have prophesied {here} at Bethel for the last time, because this is the king’s holy place; it is a royal temple.”

14Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a {professional} prophet, and I do not belong to any group of prophets. Instead, I take care of sheep, and I also take care of sycamore-fig trees. 15But Yahweh took me away from tending the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people in Israel.’ 16So now listen to what Yahweh has to say {to you}. You keep telling me, ‘Do not prophesy against the people of Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac!’ 17Therefore, this is what Yahweh says {to you},

‘{When your enemies come,} your wife will become a prostitute in this city,

and they will kill your sons and your daughters with their swords,

and they will measure your land with a rope and divide it up {among themselves}.

As for you, you will die in a foreign, pagan country,

and your enemies will certainly force the people of Israel to become exiles, far from their own land.’”

81Yahweh, my Lord, showed me a vision. I looked, and in the vision I saw a basket of ripe fruit. 2He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “I see a basket of ripe fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me,

“It is time for me to put an end to my people, the Israelites!

I will no longer hold back from punishing them {for their sin}.

3At that time, the people who sing songs in the temple will wail loudly instead of singing.

There will be so many corpses

that people will throw them everywhere. {Everyone,} be silent!” This is what Yahweh, my Lord, declares.

4Listen to this, you people who oppress needy people

and get rid of the poor people in the land!

5You say to yourselves, “We wish the new moon festival would be over, so that we could start selling our grain again!

We wish the Sabbath day would be over, so that we could start selling our wheat again!

Then we can cheat people by making the baskets that we measure our grain in smaller than standard,

and by making the weights for measuring the buyer’s silver heavier than standard, and we can also make our scales weigh dishonestly.

6Then we can use our silver to buy poor people {to be our slaves}.

We can buy needy people for {only} a pair of sandals.

We can even sell the worthless chaff mixed in with the wheat!”

7Yahweh has solemnly sworn by the very land that he gave to you descendants of Jacob,

“I will certainly never forget any of the {evil} things that you have done.

8Because of the evil things that you have done, {it will be as though} the land itself will writhe,

and everyone who lives in the land will mourn.

{It will be as though} the whole land will heave up and down,

just as the Nile River in Egypt floods and then sinks back down again.”

9Yahweh, my Lord, declares this, “At that time, {when I punish you,}

I will make the sun go down at noon.

Yes, I will make the earth become dark during the daytime.

10Because of what I will do, your {religious} festivals will become times when you mourn,

and instead of singing joyful songs you will wail funeral dirges.

All of you will wear rough sackcloth

and shave your heads {to show that you are grieving}.

Because of what I will do, you will be as sorrowful as when parents grieve for their only son who has died.

By the time I stop punishing you, you will be grieving bitterly.”

11Yahweh, my Lord, declares this, “Listen! There will soon be a time

when I will cause something to become very scarce in the land.

It will not be a time when people lack food or thirst for water.

Instead, it will be a time when people will not be able to hear any message from me, Yahweh.

12People will wander everywhere, staggering from one coastline to another

and from the north to the east.

They will roam around, searching for a message from me, Yahweh,

but they will not get one.

13At that time, even the beautiful young women

and the strong young men will faint because they are so thirsty.

14These are the people who make solemn promises using the name of the shameful idol in Samaria.

Some of them make promises using the name of the god that people worship in Dan,

and others make promises using the name of the god that people travel to worship in Beersheba.

All of those people will fall down and die, and they will never get up again.”

91{In another vision,} I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said,

“Strike the tops of the pillars {of the temple} so hard that the thresholds shake,

and shatter them so that the pieces fall down on all the people there {and crush them}.

I will cause enemies to kill with swords anyone who survives.

None of them will be able to run away and escape.

2Even if they dig down to the place where dead people go {as they try to escape from me},

I will reach down there and seize them.

Even if they climb up to the sky,

I will bring them down from there.

3Even if they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel,

I will search for them there and capture them.

Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,

I will command the {sea} snake there to bite them.

4Even if their enemies capture them and force them to march away as exiles,

I will command those enemies to kill them there with their swords.

I will continually do things to harm them,

not to help them.”

5Yahweh our Lord, {the commander} of the heavenly armies,

is the one who can make the earth melt by touching it,

so that everyone who lives in it mourns.

He can make the whole land rise up and then sink down again,

just as the Nile River in Egypt rises and falls.

6He made the stairway {to his palace} in the sky,

and he set his dome {of the sky} firmly in place above the earth.

He gathers up the water from the sea

and pours it out {as rain} on the surface of the ground.

The name of the one who does all this is Yahweh!

7Yahweh declares this, “You people of Israel, you are just like the people of Cush to me.

It is true that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from the land of Caphtor and the Arameans from the region of Kir.

8Listen! I, Yahweh your Lord, am fully aware of how sinful you people are in the kingdom {of Israel},

so I will destroy your kingdom and remove it from existing on the earth.

However, I will not completely destroy all of the descendants of Jacob.”

That is what Yahweh declares.

9Yahweh also says, “Listen! This will happen because I am giving the command

to send you people of Israel to live among all the nations,

and there {it will be as though} I am shaking you in a sieve{to sort you out into those who are faithful and those who are not faithful, just as a farmer shakes a sieve to separate grain from the stones}.

{It will be as though} not one pebble slips through the sieve and falls to the ground,

because not one of the unfaithful people among you will escape.

10All of the sinful ones among my people will die as enemies kill them with swords.

They are the ones who say that nothing bad will ever happen to them.

11At that time, I will restore the kingdom that King David once ruled,

the kingdom that sinners have ruined.

I will repair it and rebuild it,

and I will cause it to prosper again, as it did long ago,

12so that the kingdom of my people may contain those who remain in Edom

and those who belong to me in all of the nations.”

That is what Yahweh declares, and he is the one who will do it.

13Yahweh declares this, “Listen! The time is coming when {your crops will grow so well it will be as if}

those who plow the ground will catch up with those who are still harvesting the grain,

and those who tread on the grapes will still be working when the sowers are ready to start planting the seed.

There will be so much sweet wine

that {it will seem as if} it will flow down from the mountains and that all of the hills will melt {with it}.

14For my people Israel I will make things as good as they were before they became captives {in other nations}.

They will rebuild the cities that now lie in ruins, and they will live in them.

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine that comes from them,

and they will plant gardens and eat the fruit that grows in them.

15I will settle my people securely in their own land,

and no one will ever remove them again from the land that I gave to them.”

That is what Yahweh your God says.