7
The Hour of Doom
1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel:
‘The end! The end has come
upon the four corners of the land.
3 The end is now upon you,
and I will unleash My anger against you.
I will judge you according to your ways
and repay you for all your abominations.
4 I will not look on you with pity,
nor will I spare you,
but I will punish you for your ways
and for the abominations among you.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.’
5 This is what the Lord GOD says:
‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster * Or A unique disaster, as in most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac Disaster after disaster—
behold, it is coming!
6 The end has come!
The end has come!
It has roused itself against you.
Behold, it has come!
7 Doom has come to you,
O inhabitants of the land.
The time has come;
the day is near;
there is panic on the mountains
instead of shouts of joy.
8 Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you
and vent My anger against you;
I will judge you according to your ways
and repay you for all your abominations.
9 I will not look on you with pity,
nor will I spare you,
but I will punish you for your ways
and for the abominations among you.
Then you will know that it is I, the LORD,
who strikes the blow.
10 Behold, the day is here!
It has come!
Doom has gone out,
the rod has budded,
arrogance has bloomed.
11 Their violence has grown into a rod
to punish their wickedness.† Literally The violence has grown into a rod of wickedness
None of them will remain:
none of their multitude,
none of their wealth,
and nothing of value.
12 The time has come;
the day has arrived.
Let the buyer not rejoice
and the seller not mourn,
for wrath is upon the whole multitude.
13 The seller will surely not recover what he sold
while both remain alive.
For the vision concerning the whole multitude
will not be revoked,
and because of their iniquity,
not one of them will preserve his life.
The Desolation of Israel
14 They have blown the trumpet
and made everything ready,
but no one goes to war,
for My wrath is upon the whole multitude.
15 The sword is outside;
plague and famine are within.
Those in the country will die by the sword,
and those in the city will be devoured
by famine and plague.
16 The survivors will escape
and live in the mountains,
moaning like doves of the valley,
each for his own iniquity.
17 Every hand will go limp,
and every knee will turn to water.
18 They will put on sackcloth,
and terror will overwhelm them.
Shame will cover all their faces,
and all their heads will be shaved.
19 They will throw their silver into the streets,
and their gold will seem unclean.
Their silver and gold cannot save them
in the day of the wrath of the LORD.
They cannot satisfy their appetites
or fill their stomachs with wealth,
for it became the stumbling block
that brought their iniquity.
20 His beautiful ornaments
they transformed into pride
and used them to fashion
their vile images and detestable idols.
Therefore I will make these
into something unclean for them.
21 And I will hand these things over
as plunder to foreigners
and loot to the wicked of the earth,
who will defile them.
22 I will turn My face away from them,
and they will defile My treasured place.
Violent men will enter it,
and they will defile it.
23 Forge the chain,
for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed,
and the city is full of violence.
24 So I will bring the most wicked of nations
to take possession of their houses.
I will end the pride of the mighty,
and their holy places will be profaned.
25 Anguish is coming!
They will seek peace, but find none.
26 Disaster upon disaster will come,
and rumor after rumor.
Then they will seek a vision from a prophet,
but instruction from the priests will perish,
as will counsel from the elders.
27 The king will mourn,
the prince will be clothed with despair,
and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their conduct,
and I will judge them by their own standards.
Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”