You say, "Let the LORD hurry up and do what he says he will, so that we can see it. Let Israel's holy God carry out his plans; let's see what he has in mind."

You boast that you have made a treaty with death and reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and deceit to keep you safe.

Justice will be the measuring line for the foundation, and honesty will be its plumb line." Hailstorms will sweep away all the lies you depend on, and floods will destroy your security.

It will strike you again and again, morning after morning. You will have to bear it day and night. Each new message from God will bring new terror!

The LORD will fight as he did at Mount Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon, in order to do what he intends to do---strange as his actions may seem. He will complete his work, his mysterious work.

The people say to me, "Where are those threats the LORD made against us? Let him carry them out now!"

"Mortal man," he said, "why do the people of Israel repeat this proverb: 'Time goes by, and predictions come to nothing'?

"Mortal man, the Israelites think that your visions and prophecies are about the distant future.

The LORD Almighty answers, "I will send my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant."

But who will be able to endure the day when he comes? Who will be able to survive when he appears? He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines metal.

and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!"

When that day comes, they will roar over Israel as loudly as the sea. Look at this country! Darkness and distress! The light is swallowed by darkness.

Because the LORD Almighty is angry, his punishment burns like a fire throughout the land and destroys the people, and it is each of us for ourselves.

People shout in the streets because there is no more wine. Happiness is gone forever; it has been banished from the land.

The city is in ruins, and its gates have been broken down.

A terrible day is coming; no other day can compare with it--- a time of distress for my people, but they will survive."

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

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

It will be a dark and gloomy day, a black and cloudy day. The great army of locusts advances like darkness spreading over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again.

The earth shakes as they advance; the sky trembles. The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

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

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!

It will be a day of fury, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and destruction, a day of darkness and gloom, a black and cloudy day,

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.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish.