^6 (A)“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and ^(B)I will save the house of Joseph.
^(C)I will bring them back ^(D)because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for ^(E)I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.

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

⁵ Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
    and ^(E)wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of ^(F)the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For ^(G)a nation has come up against my land,
    ^(H)powerful and beyond number;
^(I)its teeth are lions' teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.
⁷ It has laid waste my vine
    and splintered my ^(J)fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches are made white.

^3 (E)Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like ^(F)the garden of Eden before them,
    but ^(G)behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

^4 (H)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
^5 (I)As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ^(J)a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
^(K)like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.

⁶ Before them peoples are in anguish;
    ^(L)all faces grow pale.
⁷ Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
⁸ They do not jostle one another;
    ^(M)each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
^9 (N)They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
^(O)they climb up into the houses,
    ^(P)they enter through the windows ^(Q)like a thief.

^10 (R)The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
^(S)The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
^11 (T)The Lord utters his voice
    before ^(U)his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    ^(V)he who executes his word is powerful.
^(W)For the day of the Lord is ^(X)great and very awesome;
    ^(Y)who can endure it?