For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts],
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.

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.

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.

And Jehovah hath given forth His voice before His force, For very great is His camp, For mighty is the doer of His word, For great is the day of Jehovah -- very fearful, And who doth bear it?

Who knoweth? He might return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, an oblation and a drink-offering for Jehovah your God?

I will repay you the years that the locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my mighty troops that I sent against you.

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

And, the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem, ye sold to the sons of Greece, - that they might be far removed from their own boundary.

Proclaim ye this among nations, Sanctify a war, stir up the mighty ones, Come nigh, come up, let all the men of war.

Beat your ploughshares to swords, And your pruning-hooks to javelins, Let the weak say, 'I am mighty.'

Haste, and come in, all ye nations round, And be gathered together, Thither cause to come down, O Jehovah, Thy mighty ones.