Amos sees the Lord standing by the altar, announcing that no one will escape. God will shake Israel like grain in a sieve, but not utterly destroy it. He promises to restore the fallen booth of David, and Israel will plant vineyards and never again be uprooted.
1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar : and he said , Smite the lintel of the door , that the posts may shake : and cut them in the head , all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword : he that fleeth of them shall not flee away , and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered .
2 Though they dig into hell , thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven , thence will I bring them down :
3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel , I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea , thence will I command the serpent , and he shall bite them:
4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies , thence will I command the sword , and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil , and not for good .
5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land , and it shall melt , and all that dwell therein shall mourn : and it shall rise up wholly like a flood ; and shall be drowned , as by the flood of Egypt .
6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven , and hath founded his troop in the earth ; he that calleth for the waters of the sea , and poureth them out upon the face of the earth : The LORD is his name .
7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel ? saith the LORD . Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt ? and the Philistines from Caphtor , and the Syrians from Kir ?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom , and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth ; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob , saith the LORD .
9 For, lo, I will command , and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations , like as corn is sifted in a sieve , yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth .
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword , which say , The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11 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 :
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom , and of all the heathen , which are called by my name , saith the LORD that doeth this.
13 Behold, the days come , saith the LORD , that the plowman shall overtake the reaper , and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed ; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine , and all the hills shall melt .
14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel , and they shall build the waste cities , and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards , and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens , and eat the fruit of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land , and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God .