² “Lift^(B) up a banner ^(C)on the high mountain,
Raise your voice to them;
^(D)Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded My ^[b]sanctified ones;
I have also called ^(E)My mighty ones for My anger—
Those who ^(F)rejoice in My exaltation.”

⁴ The ^(G)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 ^(H)Lord and His ^[c]weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole ^(I)land.

⁶ Wail, ^(J)for the day of the Lord is at hand!
^(K)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.
^(L)Pangs^[d] 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, ^(M)the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy ^(N)its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be ^(O)darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹ “I will ^(P)punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
^(Q)I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the ^[e]terrible.
¹² I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
^13 (R)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 ^(S)the day of His fierce anger.
¹⁴ It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man ^[f]takes up;
^(T)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 ^(U)dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ^(V)ravished.

¹⁷ “Behold,^(W) I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not ^[g]regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
¹⁸ Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
^19 (X)And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew ^(Y)Sodom and Gomorrah.
^20 (Z)It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
^21 (AA)But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of ^[h]owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
²² The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
^(AB)Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged.”

⁴ The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The ^(C)haughty^[a] people of the earth languish.
^5 (D)The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have ^(E)transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the ^(F)everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore ^(G)the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are ^[b]desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are ^(H)burned,
And few men are left.

^7 (I)The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸ The mirth ^(J)of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
⁹ They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
¹¹ There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
¹² In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
¹³ When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
^(K)It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

¹⁴ They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
¹⁵ Therefore ^(L)glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
^(M)The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, ^[c]“I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
^(N)The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

^17 (O)Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
¹⁸ And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be ^[d]caught in the snare;
For ^(P)the windows from on high are open,
And ^(Q)the foundations of the earth are shaken.

^19 (R)The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
²⁰ The earth shall ^(S)reel^[e] to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall totter like a hut;
Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,
And it will fall, and not rise again.

²¹ It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth ^(T)the kings of the earth.
²² They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the ^[f]pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
²³ Then the ^(U)moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will ^(V)reign
On ^(W)Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.

⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all ^(E)our righteousnesses are like ^[b]filthy rags;
We all ^(F)fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
⁷ And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have ^[c]consumed us because of our iniquities.

⁸ But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our ^(G)potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
⁹ Do not be furious, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
¹⁰ Your holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
¹¹ Our holy and beautiful ^[d]temple,
Where our fathers praised You,
Is burned up with fire;
And all ^(H)our pleasant things ^[e]are laid waste.
^12 (I)Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord?
^(J)Will You ^[f]hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?