The enemy comes up like clouds. His chariots are like a raging wind. His horses are faster than eagles. How horrible it will be for us! We will be destroyed!
Saul and Jonathan were loved and well-liked while they were living. They were not separated even when they died. They were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions.
This is the divine revelation about Egypt. The Lord is riding on a fast-moving cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt’s idols will tremble in his presence. Egypt’s courage will fail.
Their arrows are sharpened; all their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses’ hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.
The Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a thunderstorm. He will pay them back with his burning anger and punish them with flames of fire.
I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion are gasping for breath. They are stretching out their hands, saying, “How horrible it is for us! We’re defenseless in the presence of murderers!”
“As I live,” declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies, “someone who is like Mount Tabor among the mountains will come. Someone who is like Mount Carmel by the sea will come.
Its people take hold of bows and spears. They are cruel and have no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea. They ride on horses. They march like soldiers ready for battle against my people Zion.
He will have so many horses that their dust will cover you. The noise from the war horses, wagon wheels, and chariots will shake your walls when he enters your gates. He will enter as people enter a conquered city.
“In the end times the southern king will attack him. The northern king will rush at him like a storm with chariots, horses, and many ships. He will invade countries, overwhelm them, and pass through their land.
The first animal was like a lion, but it had wings like an eagle. I watched until its wings were plucked off and it was lifted off the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human and was given a human mind.
“Sound the alarm on the ram’s horn. The enemy swoops down on the Lord’s temple like an eagle. The people of Israel have rejected my promise and rebelled against my teachings.
When that day comes, people will make fun of you. They will sing this sad song about you: “We are completely ruined. The Lord gives our people’s possessions ⌞to others⌟. He takes them from us. He divides our fields among our captors.”
The Lord is patient and has great strength. The Lord will never let the guilty go unpunished. Raging winds and storms mark his path, and clouds are the dust from his feet.
Their horses will be faster than leopards and quicker than wolves in the evening. Their riders will gallop along proudly. Their riders will come from far away. They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the people on earth will cry in agony when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky with power and great glory.
The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth. The nation will swoop down on you like an eagle. It will be a nation whose language you won’t understand.
Look! He is coming in the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. Every tribe on earth will mourn because of him. This is true. Amen.