Chapter 9

The great destruction of Jerusalem, ℣.8 and dispersion of all the Jews are again prophesied: ℣.11 with the conversion of Gentiles, and the Church of Christ shall greatly prosper.

1. 1

   I saw our Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, & let the lintels be moved: for there is avarice in the head of all, & the last of them will I kill by the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall fly, & he shall not be saved that shall fly of them.

2. 2

   If they shall descend even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and if they shall ascend even to heaven, thence will I pluck them down.

3. 3

   And if they shall be hid in the top of Carmel, thence searching will I take them away: and if they shall hide themselves from mine eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.

4. 4

   And if they shall go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, & it shall kill them. And I will set mine eyes upon them to evil, and not to good.

5. 5

   And our Lord the God of hosts, which toucheth the earth, & it shall melt away: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall all rise as a river, and shall run down as the flood of Ægypt.

6. 6

   He that buildeth in heaven his ascension, & 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.

7. 7

   Why, are not you as the children of the Æthiopians unto me, o children of Israel, saith our Lord? Did not I make Israel to ascend out of the Land of Ægypt: and the Palesthins out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrenee?

8. 8

   Behold the eyes of our Lord God upon the sinning kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet destroying I will not destroy the house of Jacob, saith our Lord.

9. 9

   For behold I will command, & will shake the house of Israel in all nations, as wheat is shaken in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall upon the earth.

10. 10

    All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: which say: The evil shall not approach, & shall not come upon us.

11. 11

    In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that was fallen: & I will re-edify the breaches of the walls thereof, and those things, that were fallen I will repair: & I will re-edify him as in the days of old.

12. 12

    That they may possess the remnant of Idumea, and all nations, because that my name is invocated upon them: saith our Lord that doth these things.

13. 13

    Behold the days come, saith our Lord: and the plougher shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of the grape him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and all hills shall be tilled.

14. 14

    And I will convert the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the desert cities, and inhabit: and shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them.

15. 15

    And I will plant them upon their own ground: & I will no more pluck them out of their land, which I have given them, saith our Lord thy God.