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Chapter 9

Fifth Vision: The Destruction of the Sanctuary

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. And he said:

Strike the capitals
    so that the threshold shakes!
    Break them off on the heads of them all!
Those who are left I will slay with the sword.
Not one shall get away,
    no survivor shall escape.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 9:1 This vision may describe the destruction of the temple at Bethel and the fulfillment of the oracle in 3:14, linking God’s judgment upon Israel with the “punishment” of the altars of Bethel. This dramatic event (perhaps to be identified with the earthquake mentioned in 1:1) symbolizes the end of the Northern Kingdom as the Lord’s people, the consequence of their steadfast refusal to heed the prophetic word and return to the God of Israel.

Chapter 13

A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense. (A)He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: “Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and they shall burn human bones upon you.” (B)He also gave a sign that same day and said: “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: The altar shall be torn apart and the ashes on it shall be scattered.” When the king heard the word of the man of God which he was crying out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched forth his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched forth against him withered, so that he could not draw it back. (The altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar were scattered, in accordance with the sign the man of God gave by the word of the Lord.)

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