²     a day of darkness^(A) and gloom,^(B)
    a day of clouds^(C) and blackness.^(D)
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army^(E) comes,
such as never was in ancient times^(F)
    nor ever will be in ages to come.

³ Before them fire^(G) devours,
    behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,^(H)
    behind them, a desert waste^(I)—
    nothing escapes them.
⁴ They have the appearance of horses;^(J)
    they gallop along like cavalry.

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you drinkers of wine;^(D)
wail because of the new wine,
    for it has been snatched^(E) from your lips.
⁶ A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;^(F)
it has the teeth^(G) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.
⁷ It has laid waste^(H) my vines
    and ruined my fig trees.^(I)
It has stripped off their bark
    and thrown it away,
    leaving their branches white.

¹⁰ You have forgotten^(A) God your Savior;^(B)
    you have not remembered the Rock,^(C) your fortress.^(D)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,^(E)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning^(F) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest^(G) will be as nothing^(H)
    in the day of disease and incurable^(I) pain.^(J)

¹⁰ A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath^[a] of wine;
    a homer^[b] of seed will yield only an ephah^[c] of grain.”^(A)