²⁵ I will repay you for the years
    that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
    my great army that I sent against you.^(A)

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

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)
7 It has laid waste my vines
    and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches have turned white.^(C)

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)