2 yet will I distress Ariel:
there shall be mourning and sorrow
when she becomes as my altar hearth.
3 I will encamp against you round about,
and beleaguer you with assault posts,
and erect siege installations against you.
4 And when you have been laid low,
you will speak from the ground,
your words uttering out of the dust:
your voice from the ground
shall be like that of a medium;
your sayings shall whisper out of the dust.
5 Suddenly, in an instant,
your crowds of evildoers shall become as fine dust,
your violent mobs like flying chaff.
6 She shall be chastened by Jehovah of Hosts
with thunderous quakings,
resounding booms, tempestuous blasts
and conflagrations of devouring flame.

(Isaiah 29)

4 Hark! A tumult on the mountains,
as of a vast multitude.
Hark! An uproar among kingdoms,
as of nations assembling:
Jehovah of Hosts is marshaling an army for war.
5 They come from a distant land beyond the horizon—
Jehovah and the instruments of his wrath—
to cause destruction throughout the earth.
6 Lament, for the Day of Jehovah is near;
it shall come as a violent blow from the Almighty.
7 Then shall every hand grow weak
and the hearts of all men melt.
8 They shall be terrified, in throes of agony,
seized with trembling like a woman in labor.
Men will look at one another aghast,
their faces set aflame.
9 The Day of Jehovah shall come
as a cruel outburst of anger and wrath
to make the earth a desolation,
that sinners may be annihilated from it.
10 The stars and constellations of the heavens
will not shine.
When the sun rises, it shall be obscured;
nor will the moon give its light.
11 I have decreed calamity for the world,
punishment for the wicked;
I will put an end to the arrogance of insolent men
and humble the pride of tyrants.
12 I will make mankind scarcer than fine gold,
men more rare than gold of Ophir.
13 I will cause disturbance in the heavens
when the earth is jolted out of place
by the anger of Jehovah of Hosts
in the day of his blazing wrath.
14 Then, like a deer that is chased,
or a flock of sheep that no one rounds up,
each will return to his own people
and everyone flee to his homeland.
15 Whoever is found shall be thrust through;
all who are caught shall fall by the sword.
16 Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes,
their homes plundered, their wives ravished.
17 See, I stir up against them the Medes,
who do nor value silver, nor covet gold.
18 Their bows shall tear apart the young.
They will show no mercy to the newborn;
their eye will not look with compassion on children.
19 And Babylon, the most splendid of kingdoms,
the glory and pride of Chaldeans, shall be thrown down
as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 Never shall it be reinhabited;
it shall not be resettled through all generations.
Nomads will not pitch their tents there,
nor will shepherds rest their flocks in it.
21 But wild animals will infest it,
and its buildings overflow with weasels;
birds of prey will find lodging there
and demonic creatures prance about in it.
22 Jackals will cry out from its palaces,
howling creatures from its amusement halls.
Her time draws near;
Babylon’s days shall not be prolonged.

(Isaiah 13)

5 Hail the Assyrian, the rod of my anger!
He is a staff—my wrath in their hand.
6 I will commission him against a godless nation,
appoint him over the people
deserving of my vengeance,
to pillage for plunder, to spoliate for spoil,
to tread underfoot like mud in the streets.
7 Nevertheless, it shall not seem so to him;
this shall not be what he has in mind.
His purpose shall be to annihilate
and to exterminate nations not a few.

(Isaiah 10)

6 Because these people have rejected
the Waters of Shiloah, which flow gently,
and rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
7 therefore will my Lord
cause to come up over them
the great and mighty waters of the River—
the king of Assyria in all his glory.
He will rise up over all his channels
and overflow all his banks.
8 He will sweep into Judea like a flood
and, passing through, reach the very neck;
his outspread wings will span
the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.
9 Though nations form pacts,
they shall be routed.
Give heed, all you distant lands!
You may take courage in one another,
but shall be in fear;
you may arm yourselves,
but shall be terrorized.
10 Though you hold consultations,
they shall come to nought;
though you make proposals,
they shall not prove firm: God is with us!

...

21 they roam about embittered by hunger; and when they are hungry, they become enraged

and, gazing upward, curse their king and their God. 22 They will look to the land, but there shall

be a depressing scene of anguish and gloom; and thus are they banished into outer darkness.

8 Woe to those who join house to house
and link field to field till no place is left,
and you are restricted to dwell
in the centers of the land!
9 Jehovah of Hosts spoke this in my hearing:
Surely many buildings shall lie desolate,
large and fine houses unoccupied.
10 A ten-acre vineyard shall yield but one bath,
a homer of seed but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who go after liquor
as soon as they arise in the morning,
who linger at night parties, inflamed by wine!
12 There are harps and lyres,
drums, flutes, and wine at their banquets,
but they regard not what Jehovah does,
nor perceive his hands at work.
13 Therefore are my people exiled
without knowing why;
their best men die of famine,
their masses perish with thirst.
14 Sheol becomes ravenous,
opening its mouth insatiably;
into it descend their elite with the masses,
their boisterous ones and revelers.
15 Mankind is brought low
when men debase themselves,
causing the eyes of the high-minded to be downcast.
16 But Jehovah of Hosts will be exalted
by a just judgment,
the holy God show himself holy
by his righteousness.
17 Then shall his sheep feed in their pasture,
and proselytes eat in the ruins of the affluent.
18 Woe to those drawn to sin by vain attachments,
hitched to transgression like a trailer,
19 who think, Let him quickly speed up his work
so we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel
soon come to pass, and we will know!
20 Woe to those who suppose what is evil to be good
and what is good, evil!
They put darkness for light
and light for darkness;
they make bitterness sweet and the sweet bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own view!
22 Woe to those who are valiant at drinking wine
and champions at mixing liquor!
23 Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe
but deny justice to the innocent!
24 As a blazing fire consumes stubble,
and as dry weeds wane before the flame,
so shall their roots decay away
and their blossoms fly up like dust.
For they have despised the law of Jehovah of Hosts
and reviled the words of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled
against his people:
he draws back his hand against them
and strikes them;
the mountains quake, and their corpses
lie like litter about the streets.
Yet for all this his anger is not abated;
his hand is upraised still.
26 He raises an ensign to distant nations
and summons them from beyond the horizon.
Forthwith they come, swiftly and speedily.
27 Not one of them grows weary,
nor does any stumble;
they do not drowse or fall asleep.
Their waist-belts come not loose
nor their sandal thongs undone.
28 Their arrows are sharp;
all their bows are strung.
The tread of their warhorses resembles flint;
their chariot wheels revolve like a whirlwind.
29 They have the roar of a lion;
they are aroused like young lions:
growling, they seize the prey, and escape,
and none comes to the rescue.
30 He shall be stirred up against them in that day,
even as the Sea is stirred up.
And should one look to the land,
there too shall be a distressing gloom,
for the daylight shall be darkened
by an overhanging mist.

(Isaiah 5)

 1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

 3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6)

 1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

 2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

 4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

 5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

 8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

 10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

 11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

 12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.

 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.

 17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

 18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

 19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? (Nahum 3)

 1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

 2 For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.

 5 He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.

 6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

 7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

 8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

 9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

 11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?

 12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

 13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard. (Nahum 2)

 1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

 3 ¶That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

 4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

 5 ¶Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

 7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

 8 ¶Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

 11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.

 12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

 14 ¶Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

 15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.

 16 ¶The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.

 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7)

  5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

 8 ¶And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

 9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

 10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:

 11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:

 12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:

 13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

 14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

 15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. (Micah 5)

 1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

 3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

 4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

 5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

 6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

 7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

 8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

 9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

 10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

 11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

 ...

 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. (Joel 2)

4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

 5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

 7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

 8 ¶Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

 9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.

 10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

 11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

 12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

 13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

 14 ¶Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord,

 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

 16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

 17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

 18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

 19 O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

 20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. (Joel 1)