Amos 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

I saw the Master standing over the altar, and he said: Strike the tops of the pillars until the doorframes shake. Bring the roof down on the heads of all of them. Whoever is left I will kill with the sword. Not one of them will outrun it, not one of them will get away.

If they dig their way down into Sheol, my hand will take them from there. If they climb up into the sky, I will bring them down from there.

If they hide themselves on the summit of Carmel, I will hunt them out and take them from there. If they drop out of my sight to the floor of the sea, I will give the order to the serpent there, and it will bite them.

If their enemies march them off into captivity, I will give the order to the sword there, and it will kill them. I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good.

The Master, Yahweh who commands armies, touches the land and it melts, and everyone living on it goes into mourning. All of it heaves up like the Nile and drops back like the river of Egypt.

He builds his upper rooms in the sky and sets the floor of them on the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land. Yahweh is his name.

Are you any different to me than the Cushites, Israel? declares Yahweh. Did I not bring Israel up out of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Caphtor, and the Arameans out of Kir?

Look, the eyes of the Master, Yahweh, are on this kingdom that has broken faith, and I will wipe it off the face of the ground. Still, I will not wipe out the house of Jacob completely, declares Yahweh.

I am giving the order now, and I will shake the house of Israel out among all the nations the way grain is shaken in a sieve, and not one pebble will hit the ground.

Everyone among my people who has broken faith will die by the sword, all of them saying, "Disaster will not catch us. It will never get anywhere near us."

On that day I will raise up the shelter of David that fell down, and I will wall up its gaps and raise up its ruins and rebuild it the way it stood long ago,

so that they take possession of what is left of Edom and of all the nations that are called by my name, declares Yahweh, and he is the one who will do it.

The days are coming, declares Yahweh, when the man at the plough will catch up to the man still reaping, and the one treading grapes to the one sowing seed. The mountains will run with new wine and every hill will melt with it.

I will bring my people Israel back from where they were taken. They will rebuild the wrecked towns and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine. They will make gardens and eat the fruit.

I will plant them on their own ground, and they will never be pulled up again out of the ground I have given them, says Yahweh your God.