⁴ The ^(A)noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts musters
The army for battle.
⁵ They come from a far country,
From the end of heaven—
The ^(B)Lord and His ^[a]weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole ^(C)land.

⁶ Wail, ^(D)for the day of the Lord is at hand!
^(E)It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
⁸ And they will be afraid.
^(F)Pangs^[b] and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.

⁹ Behold, ^(G)the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy ^(H)its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be ^(I)darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹ “I will ^(J)punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
^(K)I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the ^[c]terrible.
¹² I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
^13 (L)Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in ^(M)the day of His fierce anger.
¹⁴ It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man ^[d]takes up;
^(N)Every man will turn to his own people,
And everyone will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Everyone who is found will be thrust through,
And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their children also will be ^(O)dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ^(P)ravished.

¹⁷ “Behold,^(Q) I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not ^[e]regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.