1
Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said,
“Strike the tops of the Temple columns,
so that the foundation will shake.
Bring down the roof
on the heads of the people below.
I will kill with the sword those who survive.
No one will escape!
2
“Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, 1
I will reach down and pull them up.
Even if they climb up into the heavens,
I will bring them down.
3
Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel,
I will search them out and capture them.
Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean,
I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them.
4
Even if their enemies drive them into exile,
I will command the sword to kill them there.
I am determined to bring disaster upon them
and not to help them.”
5
The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
touches the land and it melts,
and all its people mourn.
The ground rises like the Nile River at floodtime,
and then it sinks again.
6
The Lord ’s home reaches up to the heavens,
while its foundation is on the earth.
He draws up water from the oceans
and pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name!
7
“Are you Israelites more important to me
than the Ethiopians? 2 ” asks the Lord .
“I brought Israel out of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Crete 3
and led the Arameans out of Kir.
8
“I, the Sovereign Lord ,
am watching this sinful nation of Israel.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel, 4 ”
says the Lord .
9
“For I will give the command
and will shake Israel along with the other nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
yet not one true kernel will be lost.
10
But all the sinners will die by the sword -
all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’