^2 (A)Hear this, ^(B)you elders;
    give ear, ^(C)all inhabitants of the land!
^(D)Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?

^2 (A)a day of darkness and gloom,
    ^(B)a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    ^(C)a great and powerful people;
^(D)their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.

5 ^(A)Hear this, O priests!
    Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
    For the judgment is for you;
for ^(B)you have been a snare at Mizpah
    and a net spread upon ^(C)Tabor.

⁷ Alas! ^(A)That day is so great
    ^(B)there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
    yet he shall be saved out of it.

3 And I said:
^(A)Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
^(B)Is it not for you to know justice?—