avid, 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 sleve: 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