1Babylonia, Asia, Egypt, and Syria, you are doomed! 2Put on mourning, your sackcloth and goat's hair. Cry and wail for your children because the time for your destruction is near. 3I am sending war on you, and no one can stop it. 4I am sending fire on you, and no one can put it out. 5I am sending disasters on you, and no one can stop them from coming. 6Can anyone stop a hungry lion in the forest or put out a fire that is burning in straw 7or turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer? 8When the Lord God sends disaster, no one can hold it back. 9No one can put out the blazing anger of the Lord. 10When he sends lightning, no one can keep from trembling; and when it thunders, everyone is afraid. 11When the Lord makes his threats, no one can keep from falling to the ground in his presence. 12The foundations of the earth tremble. There is violent churning in the deepest part of the sea. Even the creatures in the sea are in turmoil when the Lord makes his glorious power felt. 13He is like a mighty archer whose strong right arm bends the bow. His arrows are sharp and never miss their mark once they are shot out towards any part of the earth. 14He has already sent out his disasters towards the earth, and they will not miss their target. 15The fire has been lit, and it cannot be put out until it burns up the foundations of the earth. 16The disasters are on their way towards the earth, and like an arrow shot by a strong archer, they cannot be turned back.
17I am doomed! I am doomed! Who will rescue me in those days? 18Troubles will come, and many people will groan. Famine will come, and many will die. Wars will come, and the world powers will tremble. Disasters will come, and everyone will be terrified. What will people do when these disasters come? 19Famine, epidemics, troubles, and suffering are sent to punish and correct people. 20But in spite of all this, they will not turn away from their sins; they soon forget their punishment. 21The time is coming when food will be so cheap that people will think a time of peace and plenty has arrived. But then disasters will spring up everywhere — wars, famine, and great confusion. 22Many people on earth will starve to death, and those who escape starvation will be killed in war. 23Their corpses will be thrown out like dung, and there will be no one left to comfort the living. The earth will be deserted and its cities demolished. 24There will be no one left to plough the land or sow it. 25Trees will bear their fruit, but there will be no one left to pick it. 26Grapes will ripen, but there will be no one left to make wine. There will be desolation everywhere, 27and a person will long to see the face of another human being or even to hear another person's voice. 28Only ten will be left out of a whole city, and in the countryside, only two, who have hidden in the forest or in caves. 29When an olive grove is harvested, three or four olives may be left on each tree. 30When grapes in a vineyard are picked, a few bunches may be left even by those who look carefully. 31That is how it will be in those days. Three or four will be missed by the soldiers who search through the houses to kill everyone. 32The land will be left empty; the fields will be overgrown with briars; the roads and paths will be covered with weeds and thorns because there will be no sheep to graze along them. 33Young women will be in mourning because there is no one to marry them; wives will be in mourning because they have lost their husbands; girls will be in mourning because there is no one to help them. 34All the young men will be killed in the war, and all the married men will die in the famine.
God's People Must Prepare for the End
35Now listen to my message, you people who serve the Lord. 36It is the Lord's message, so receive it and believe what he says. 37The disasters are approaching rapidly, and they will not be delayed. 38A woman in the ninth month of pregnancy may suffer labour pains for several hours, but when the time comes for the baby to be born, there is no longer any delay. 39In the same way, the disasters that are coming on the earth will not be delayed, and the world will groan when it is caught in its labour pains.
40Listen to my message, my people, and get ready for the battle. When the disasters come, you must live as people whose home is not in this world. 41-42Merchants must not expect to make a profit from what they sell; they must be ready to run for their lives. Their customers must be expected to lose whatever they buy. Whoever builds a house should not plan to live in it. 43Farmers should not expect to harvest their crops or pick their grapes. 44Those who marry must not expect to have children, and those who don't marry must live as if they had been widowed. 45Everything that is done will be useless. 46Foreigners will harvest the crops, seize the wealth, tear down the houses, and carry off the children as slaves. Anyone who has children will be bringing them up to be slaves or to die of starvation. 47Anyone who makes money will do so only to see it violently taken away. The more possessions people gather, the more they spend on their cities and houses, the more attention they give to their personal appearance, 48the more angry the Lord will become with them because of their sin. This is what the Lord says. 49Just as a respectable woman despises a prostitute, 50so righteousness despises sinfulness, no matter how attractive it may look. Righteousness will expose every sin in the world and condemn it face to face when her Defender comes. 51So do not imitate sinfulness or what it does, 52for in a very short time sinfulness will be swept out of the world and righteousness will rule among us.
53Sinners must not deny their sins. Those who say that they have not sinned against God and his majesty are only bringing fiery shame upon themselves. 54The Lord certainly knows everything that people do; he knows their plans and innermost thoughts. 55When the Lord said, “Let the world be created,” it was done! When he said, “Let the sky be created,” that was done too. 56He set the stars in place by his command, and he knows how many of them there are. 57He knows what is in the deepest part of the sea and the treasures that are there. He has measured the sea and everything that is in it. 58By his word he confined the sea to its place and put the land on top of the water. 59The Lord stretched out the sky and fixed it firmly over the water like a dome. 60He put springs of water in the desert and lakes in the high mountains, so that water could flow down in the rivers and water the land. 61The Lord created human beings and gave each one of them a heart. He gave them life, breath, and understanding, 62which is the Spirit of God the Almighty, who created everything and who knows all secrets and sees into all hidden places. 63My people, the Lord knows everything you plan and the secret thoughts of your heart. Sinners who try to hide their sins are doomed. 64The Lord will carefully examine everything you have done and bring you to judgement. 65On that day you will be thrown into utter confusion; all your sins will be publicly exposed and the wicked things you have done will witness against you. 66What will you do then? How will you hide your sins from God and his angels? 67God is your judge, so fear him! Abandon your sins, put away the evil you have done, and never sin again. Then God will save you from all these disasters.
68A vast mob of people is ready now to descend on you and devour you like flames. They will drag some of you off and force you to eat pagan sacrifices. 69If you give in to them, they will ridicule you, mock you, and humiliate you. 70In many places near the cities there will be violent persecution against those who fear the Lord. 71The attackers will act like wild men; they will plunder and destroy without pity all those who still fear the Lord. 72They will turn them out of their homes and take away all their possessions. 73This will be the time of testing for my chosen people, and they will prove to be as pure as refined gold.
74But listen to what the Lord says: “My chosen people, the time of terrible suffering is near, but I will rescue you. 75Don't be afraid or have any doubts; I am your God and I will lead you. 76If you keep my laws and my commands,” says the Lord, “you must not let your sins weigh you down or control you. 77Those who are chained by their sins, overwhelmed by the evil they have done, are doomed. They will be like a field overgrown with brushwood, with the path across it so choked with thorns that no one can get through. 78It is abandoned and doomed to be destroyed by fire.”
