15. Hate evil and love what is good;turn your courts into true halls of justice.Perhaps even yet the lord God of Heaven’s Armieswill have mercy on the remnant of his people.
16. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says:“There will be crying in all the public squaresand mourning in every street.Call for the farmers to weep with you,and summon professional mourners to wail.
17. There will be wailing in every vineyard,for I will destroy them all,”says the lord.
18. What sorrow awaits you who say,“If only the day of the lord were here!”You have no idea what you are wishing for.That day will bring darkness, not light.
19. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—only to meet a bear.Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—and he’s bitten by a snake.