19to those who say, “Let God hurry,

let him hasten his work

so we may see it.

Let it approach,

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come,

so we may know it.”

20Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine

and champions at mixing drinks,

23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice to the innocent.

24Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw

and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,

so their roots will decay

and their flowers blow away like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty

and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people;

his hand is raised and he strikes them down.

The mountains shake,

and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

26He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,

he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Here they come,

swiftly and speedily!

27Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,

not one slumbers or sleeps;

not a belt is loosened at the waist,

not a sandal thong is broken.

28Their arrows are sharp,

all their bows are strung;

their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,

their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29Their roar is like that of the lion,

they roar like young lions;

they growl as they seize their prey

and carry it off with no one to rescue.

30In that day they will roar over it

like the roaring of the sea.

And if one looks at the land,

he will see darkness and distress;

even the light will be darkened by the clouds.