²³ I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness,
    and to the heavens, and they were without their light.
²⁴ I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.
²⁵ I looked and behold, there was no person,
    and all of the birds^[a] of the sky had fled.
²⁶ I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,^[b]
    and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh,
    before the face of his burning anger.^[c]
27 For thus says Yahweh, “All of the land will be a desolation,
    yet I will not make a complete desolation.
²⁸ Because of this the earth will mourn,
    and the heavens above will become dark.
Because I have spoken, I have planned,
    and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.”
²⁹ From the sound of a horseman and an archer^[d] every town flees,
    they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb.
Every town is forsaken,
    and there is no person who lives in them.