The Destruction of Israel

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars

so that the thresholds shake.

Topple them on the heads of all the people,

and I will kill the rest with the sword.

None of those who flee will get away;

none of the fugitives will escape.

2 Though they dig down to Sheol,

from there My hand will take them;

and though they climb up to heaven,

from there I will pull them down.

3 Though they hide themselves atop Carmel,

there I will track them and seize them;

and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent [fn] to bite them.

4 Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity,

there I will command the sword to slay them.

I will fix My eyes upon them

for harm and not for good.”

5 The Lord GOD of Hosts,

He who touches the earth and it melts,

and all its dwellers mourn—

all the land rises like the Nile,

then sinks like the river of Egypt—

6 He builds His upper rooms in the heavens

and founds His vault upon the earth.

He summons the waters of the sea

and pours them over the face of the earth.

The LORD is His name.

7 “Are you not like the Cushites [fn] to Me,

O children of Israel?”

declares the LORD.

“Did I not bring Israel

up from the land of Egypt,

the Philistines from Caphtor,[fn]

and the Arameans from Kir?

8 Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD

are on the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

declares the LORD.

9 “For surely I will give the command,

and I will shake the house of Israel

among all the nations

as grain is sifted in a sieve;

but not a pebble will reach the ground.

10 All the sinners among My people

will die by the sword—

all those who say,

‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’ ”