Israel Thrown into a Sieve

1-4 I saw my Master standing beside the altar at the shrine. He said:

“Hit the tops of the shrine’s pillars,
    make the floor shake.
The roof’s about to fall on the heads of the people,
    and whoever’s still alive, I’ll kill.
No one will get away,
    no runaways will make it.
If they dig their way down into the underworld,
    I’ll find them and bring them up.
If they climb to the stars,
    I’ll find them and bring them down.
If they hide out at the top of Mount Carmel,
    I’ll find them and bring them back.
If they dive to the bottom of the ocean,
    I’ll send Dragon to swallow them up.
If they’re captured alive by their enemies,
    I’ll send Sword to kill them.
I’ve made up my mind
    to hurt them, not help them.”

5-6 My Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    touches the earth, a mere touch, and it trembles.
    The whole world goes into mourning.
Earth swells like the Nile at flood stage;
    then the water subsides, like the great Nile of Egypt.
God builds his palace—towers soaring high in the skies,
    foundations set on the rock-firm earth.
He calls ocean waters and they come,
    then he ladles them out on the earth.
        God, your God, does all this.

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Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,(A)
    there I will hunt them down and seize them.(B)
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,(C)
    there I will command the serpent(D) to bite them.(E)
Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
    there I will command the sword(F) to slay them.

“I will keep my eye on them
    for harm(G) and not for good.(H)(I)

The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,(J)
    and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
    then sinks like the river of Egypt;(K)

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