1I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the capital so that the thresholds shake, and cut them off at the head of them all; I will kill their end with the sword. They shall not flee away, nor shall a survivor escape for them.2If they dig into Sheol from there, my hand will take them; and if they ascend into heaven from there, I will bring them down.3And if they hide themselves at the head of Carmel from there, I will search them out and take them; and if they hide themselves from before my eyes in the floor of the sea from there, I will command the serpent and it will bite them.4And 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 upon them for harm and not for welfare.5And the Lord GOD of Hosts, who touches the land so that it melts, causes all who dwell in her to mourn; all of her rises like the Nile and sinks like the Nile of Egypt.6He who builds his steps in the heaven and lays his hand upon the land, founding her, calls to the waters of the sea and pours them upon the face of the land—the LORD is his name.7Are you not to me like the sons of the Ethiopian, O sons of Israel? declares the LORD. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?8Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the land; yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, declares the LORD.9For behold, I command and shake the house of Israel among all the nations, just as grain is shaken in the sieve so that not a pebble falls to the land.10All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, those who say, The harm shall not draw near or overtake us.