Wail, as a virgin girdeth with sackcloth, For the husband of her youth.

And cry unto Jehovah, 'Alas for the day! For near is a day of Jehovah, And as destruction from the mighty it cometh.

A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of cloud and thick darkness, As darkness spread on the mountains, A people numerous and mighty, Like it there hath not been from of old, And after it there is not again -- till the years of generation and generation.

Before it consumed hath fire, And after it burn doth a flame, As the garden of Eden is the land before it, And after it a wilderness -- a desolation! And also an escape there hath not been to it,

As the appearance of horses is its appearance, And as horsemen, so they run.

As the noise of chariots, on the tops of the mountains they skip, As the noise of a flame of fire devouring stubble, As a mighty people set in array for battle.

As mighty ones they run, As men of war they go up a wall, And each in his own ways they do go, And they embarrass not their paths.

In the city they run to and fro, On the wall they run, Into houses they go up by the windows, They go in as a thief.

And it hath come to pass, Every one who calleth in the name of Jehovah is delivered, For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there is an escape, As Jehovah hath said, And among the remnants whom Jehovah is calling!