<p class="poetry">Their arrows are sharpened,p> <p class="poetry">and all their bows are prepared.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The hooves of their horses are hard as flint,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliverp> <p class="poetry">and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,p> <p class="poetry">so were we because of you, O <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!p> <p class="poetry">Close your doors behind you!p> <p class="poetry">Hide for a little while,p> <p class="poetry">until his angry judgment is over!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then the lame will leap like a deer,p> <p class="poetry">the mute tongue will shout for joy;p> <p class="poetry">for water will flow<n id="1" /> in the desert,p> <p class="poetry">streams in the wilderness.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Come through! Come through the gates!p> <p class="poetry">Prepare the way for the people!p> <p class="poetry">Build it! Build the roadway!p> <p class="poetry">Remove the stones!p> <p class="poetry">Lift a signal flag for the nations!p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sword is dripping with blood,p> <p class="poetry">it is covered<n id="1" /> with fat;p> <p class="poetry">it drips<n id="2" /> with the blood of young rams and goatsp> <p class="poetry">and is covered<n id="3" /> with the fat of rams&#8217; kidneys.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> is holding a sacrifice<n id="4" /> in Bozrah,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">a bloody<n id="6" /> slaughter in the land of Edom.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Who has measured out the waters<n id="1" /> in the hollow of his hand,p> <p class="poetry">or carefully<n id="2" /> measured the sky,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">or carefully weighed<n id="4" /> the soil of the earth,p> <p class="poetry">or weighed the mountains in a balance,p> <p class="poetry">or the hills on scales?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your splendor<n id="1" /> has been brought down to Sheol,p> <p class="poetry">as well as the sound of your stringed instruments.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You lie on a bed of maggots,p> <p class="poetry">with a blanket of worms over you.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look, the name<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> comes from a distant placep> <p class="poetry">in raging anger and awesome splendor.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He speaks angrilyp> <p class="poetry">and his word is like destructive fire.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river,p> <p class="poetry">the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will nurse from her breast<n id="2" /> and be carried at her side;p> <p class="poetry">you will play on her knees.p>

<p class="poetry">If the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="1" /> had not left us a few survivors,p> <p class="poetry">we would have quickly become like Sodom,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">we would have become like Gomorrah.p>

<p class="poetry">They come from a distant land,p> <p class="poetry">from the horizon.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It is the <sc>Lordsc> with his instruments of judgment,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">coming to destroy the whole earth.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,p> <p class="poetry">only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,p> <p class="poetry">only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So it will be for the horde from all the nationsp> <p class="poetry">that fight against Mount Zion.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">tender meat and choicest wine.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Here is a message about Arabia:p> <p class="poetry">In the thicket of Arabia you spend the night,p> <p class="poetry">you Dedanite caravans.p>

<p class="poetry">For Syria&#8217;s leader is Damascus,p> <p class="poetry">and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.p> <p class="poetry">Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Like a shepherd he tends his flock;p> <p class="poetry">he gathers up the lambs with his arm;p> <p class="poetry">he carries them close to his heart;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he leads the ewes along.p>

<p class="poetry">he says, &#8220;Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,p> <p class="poetry">to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">and restore the remnant<n id="1" /> of Israel?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you a light to the nations,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so you can bring<n id="4" /> my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Look, the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s day of judgment<n id="1" /> is coming;p> <p class="poetry">it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">destroying<n id="3" /> the earth<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and annihilating its sinners.p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> has poured out on youp> <p class="poetry">a strong urge to sleep deeply.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He has shut your eyes (the prophets),p> <p class="poetry">and covered your heads (the seers).p>