16. The Lord All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly;the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
17. Then the sheep will go anywhere they want,and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.
18. How terrible it will be for those people!They pull their guilt and sins behind themas people pull wagons with ropes.
19. They say, “Let God hurry;let him do his work soonso we may see it.Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soonso that we will know what it is.”
20. How terrible it will be for people who call good things badand bad things good,who think darkness is lightand light is darkness,who think sour is sweetand sweet is sour.
21. How terrible it will be for people who think they are wiseand believe they are clever.
22. How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wineand are champions at mixing drinks.
23. They take money to set the guilty freeand don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.
24. They will be destroyedjust as fire burns straw or dry grass.They will be destroyedlike a plant whose roots rotand whose flower dies and blows away like dust.They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerfuland have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
25. So the Lord has become very angry with his people,and he has raised his hand to punish them.Even the mountains are frightened.Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.But the Lord is still angry;his hand is still raised to strike down the people.
26. He raises a banner for the nations far away.He whistles to call those people from the ends of the earth.Look! The enemy comes quickly!
27. Not one of them becomes tired or falls down.Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.Their weapons are close at hand,and their sandal straps are not broken.
28. Their arrows are sharp,and all of their bows are ready to shoot.The horses’ hoofs are hard as rocks,and their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.
29. Their shout is like the roar of a lion;it is loud like a young lion.They growl as they grab their captives.There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.
30. On that day they will roarlike the waves of the sea.And when people look at the land,they will see only darkness and pain;all light will become dark in this thick cloud.