A cup is in the Lord’s hand. (Its foaming wine is thoroughly mixed with spices.) He will empty it, ⌞and⌟ all the wicked people on earth will have to drink every last drop.
People will go into caves in the rocks and into holes in the ground because of the Lord’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth.
If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused. If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded. You are drunk, but not from wine. You stagger, but not from liquor.
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will become drunk on their own blood as though it were new wine. Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you, the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.
Report this message in Judah. Make it heard in Jerusalem. Say, “Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.” Shout loudly and say, “Gather together! Let’s go into the fortified cities.”
I will make their officials and wise men drunk, along with their governors, officers, and soldiers. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,” declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies.
Why are we just sitting here? Let’s get up! Let’s go into the fortified cities and die there. The Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has given us poison to drink because we have sinned against the Lord.
The illegal worship sites of Aven will be destroyed. Israel sins there. Thorns and weeds will grow over those altars. People will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
Even if they hide on top of Mount Carmel, I will look for them and take them from there. Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command a sea snake to bite them.
They will lick dust like snakes, like animals that crawl on the ground. They will come out of their hiding places trembling. They will turn away from your presence in fear, O Lord our God. They will be afraid of you.
When the Israelites saw they were in trouble because the army was hard-pressed, they hid in caves, in thorny thickets, among rocks, in pits, and in cisterns.
So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine troops. The Philistines said, “Look, some Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in.”