²⁰ I will remove the northern army far from you
    and drive it into a parched and desolate land,
its front into the eastern sea
    and its rear into the western sea;
its stench and foul smell will rise up.”
    Surely he has done great things!^(A)

¹⁰ I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
    I killed your young men with the sword;
I carried away your horses;^[a]
    and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.^(A)

³ Fire devours in front of them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
    but after them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.^(B)

⁴ They have the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they charge.^(C)
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.^(D)

⁶ Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.^[a](E)
7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
Each keeps to its own course;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
⁸ They do not jostle one another;
    each keeps to its own track;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
⁹ They leap upon the city;
    they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses;
    they enter through the windows like a thief.^(F)

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.^(G)
11 The Lord utters his voice
    at the head of his army;
how vast is his host!
    Numberless are those who obey his command.
Truly the day of the Lord is great,
    terrible indeed—who can endure it?^(H)

⁴ What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten;
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.^(A)

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
    and wail, all you wine drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For a nation has invaded my land,
    powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.^(B)