Amos 9 · The Lantern

The Destruction of Israel

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: Strike the capital so that the thresholds quake, and cut them off on the head of all of them; and their last I will kill with the sword. No one of them fleeing will flee, and no fugitive of them will escape.

If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them; and if they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.

And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them; and if they are concealed from before my eyes on the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.

And if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword and it will kill them; and I will set my eye on them for evil and not for good.

And the Lord GOD of hosts — the one touching the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn; and all of it rises like the Nile and sinks like the Nile of Egypt;

the one building his upper chambers in the heavens, and founding his vault upon the earth; the one calling to the waters of the sea and pouring them out on the face of the earth — the LORD is his name.

Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to me, sons of Israel? — the utterance of the LORD. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

Look, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the ground — except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, the utterance of the LORD.

For look, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, and not a pebble will fall to the earth.

By the sword all the sinners of my people will die — those who say, “The evil will not draw near or come before us.”

A Promise of Restoration

In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and I will wall up their breaches; and his ruins I will raise up, and I will build it as in the days of old,

And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

(Vers. 11 seqq.) In that day I will raise up the fallen tent of David, and rebuild its broken walls, and restore what has collapsed, and rebuild it as it was in ancient times, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord who is doing these things.

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that the rest of men and all the nations may enquire who have been called by my name, saith the Lord who doeth these things. A passage of which James the Apostle makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles.

so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations over whom my name is called — the utterance of the LORD, who does this.

Look, days are coming — the utterance of the LORD — when the plower will draw near to the reaper, and the treader of grapes to the one drawing out the seed; and the mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will melt.

And I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will build desolate cities and dwell in them; and they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit.

And I will plant them on their ground, and they will no longer be uprooted from their ground that I have given them, says the LORD your God.

Amos9

The Destruction of Israel

A Promise of Restoration