"As surely as I am the living God," says the Sovereign LORD, "you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more.

Don't laugh at the warning I am giving you! If you do, it will be even harder for you to escape. I have heard the LORD Almighty's decision to destroy the whole country.

I, the LORD, will speak to them, and what I say will be done. There will be no more delay. In your own lifetime, you rebels, I will do what I have warned you I would do. I have spoken," says the Sovereign LORD.

"Mortal man," he said, "this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to the land of Israel: This is the end for the whole land!

This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "One disaster after another is coming on you.

The end is coming for you people who live in the land. The time is near when there will be no more celebrations at the mountain shrines, only confusion.

The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.

The time is coming. The day is near when buying and selling will have no more meaning, because God's punishment will fall on everyone alike.

Blow the trumpet; sound the alarm on Zion, God's sacred hill. Tremble, people of Judah! The day of the LORD is coming soon.

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!

The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them.

Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died.

You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.

Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear.