Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north---it is an army with no cowards in its ranks.

This is a message about Tyre. Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbor are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news.

And now in Babylonia the same thing has happened: you are captives, and nothing was paid for you. Those who rule over you boast and brag and constantly show contempt for me.

They will sing for joy, but you will cry with a broken heart.

Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered, and you will be butchered like rams.

People of Heshbon, cry out! Ai is destroyed! Women of Rabbah, go into mourning! Put on sackcloth and mourn. Run about in confusion. Your god Molech will be taken into exile, together with his priests and princes.

Babylonia has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and maybe it can be healed.

Howl in grief, mortal man; this sword is meant for my people and for all the leaders of Israel. They are going to be killed with all the rest of my people. Beat your breast in despair!

"Mortal man," he said, "prophesy and announce what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying. You are to shout these words: A day of terror is coming!

Wake up and weep, you drunkards; cry, you wine-drinkers; the grapes for making new wine have been destroyed.

Grieve, you farmers; cry, you that take care of the vineyards, because the wheat, the barley, yes all the crops are destroyed.

Put on sackcloth and weep, you priests who serve at the altar! Go into the Temple and mourn all night! There is no grain or wine to offer your God.

The great day of the LORD is near---very near and coming fast! That day will be bitter, for even the bravest soldiers will cry out in despair!

And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you!

They stand a long way off, because they are afraid of sharing in her suffering. They say, "How terrible! How awful! This great and mighty city Babylon! In just one hour you have been punished!"

The day of the LORD is coming---that cruel day of his fierce anger and fury. The earth will be made a wilderness, and every sinner will be destroyed.

This is the time when the LORD will rescue Zion and take vengeance on her enemies.

The day is near, the day when the LORD will act, A day of clouds and trouble for the nations.

The LORD thunders commands to his army. The troops that obey him are many and mighty. How terrible is the day of the LORD! Who will survive it?

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light.

The day is near when the LORD will sit in judgment; so be silent in his presence. The LORD is preparing to sacrifice his people and has invited enemies to plunder Judah.

before you are driven away like chaff blown by the wind, before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day when he shows his fury.

Turn to the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who obey his commands. Do what is right, and humble yourselves before the LORD. Perhaps you will escape punishment on the day when the LORD shows his anger.

"But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah.

For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night.

When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.

Because I fear God's punishment, I could never do such a thing.

The day of the LORD is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction. What terror that day will bring!