The certainty of the desolation of Israel: the restoring of the
tabernacle of David, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the church;
which shall flourish for ever.
9:1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the
hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the
head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword:
there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall
flee of them shall not be delivered.
9:2. Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them
out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
9:3. And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and
take them away from thence: and though they hide themselves from my
eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he
shall bite them.
9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I
command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon
them for evil, and not for good.
9:5. And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it
shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise
up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.
9:6. He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his
bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth
them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.
His ascension. . .That is, his high throne.--Ibid. His bundle. . .That
is, his church bound up together by the bands of one faith and communion.
9:7. Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children
of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land
of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of
Cyrene?
As the children of the Ethiopians. . .That is, as black as they, by your
iniquities.
9:8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I
will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly
destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.
9:9. For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel
among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a
little stone fall to the ground.
9:10. All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say:
The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.
9:11. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is
fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and
repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.
9:12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations,
because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these
things.
9:13. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall
overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed:
and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.
Shall overtake, etc. . .By this is meant the great abundance of
spiritual blessings; which, as it were, by a constant succession, shall
enrich the church of Christ.
9:14. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they
shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall
plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens,
and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land:
and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given
them, saith the Lord thy God.