Daily Bread

“Strike the tops of the pillars
    so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads^(A) of all the people;
    those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
    none will escape.^(B)
2 Though they dig down to the depths below,^(C)
    from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,^(D)
    from there I will bring them down.^(E)
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,^(F)
    there I will hunt them down and seize them.^(G)
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,^(H)
    there I will command the serpent^(I) to bite them.^(J)
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
    there I will command the sword^(K) to slay them.

“I will keep my eye on them
    for harm^(L) and not for good.^(M)”^(N)

⁵ The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,^(O)
    and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
    then sinks like the river of Egypt;^(P)
6 he builds his lofty palace^[a](Q) in the heavens
    and sets its foundation^[b] on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
    and pours them out over the face of the land—
    the Lord is his name.^(R)

⁷ “Are not you Israelites
    the same to me as the Cushites^[c]?”^(S)
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
    the Philistines^(T) from Caphtor^[d](U)
    and the Arameans from Kir?^(V)

⁸ “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
    are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy^(W) it
    from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
    the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.^(X)
9 “For I will give the command,
    and I will shake the people of Israel
    among all the nations
as grain^(Y) is shaken in a sieve,^(Z)
    and not a pebble will reach the ground.^(AA)
10 All the sinners among my people
    will die by the sword,^(AB)
all those who say,
    ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’^(AC)

“I will restore David’s^(AD) fallen shelter^(AE)—
    I will repair its broken walls
    and restore its ruins^(AF)—
    and will rebuild it as it used to be,^(AG)
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom^(AH)
    and all the nations that bear my name,^[e](AI)”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.^(AJ)

“when the reaper^(AL) will be overtaken by the plowman^(AM)
    and the planter by the one treading^(AN) grapes.
New wine^(AO) will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,^(AP)
14     and I will bring^(AQ) my people Israel back from exile.^[f](AR)

“They will rebuild the ruined cities^(AS) and live in them.
    They will plant vineyards^(AT) and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.^(AU)
15 I will plant^(AV) Israel in their own land,^(AW)
    never again to be uprooted^(AX)
    from the land I have given them,”^(AY)

says the Lord your God.^(AZ)