What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
The burden of Tzor. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.
Now therefore, what do I here, says the LORD, seeing that my people is taken away for nothing? those who rule over them do howl, says the LORD, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.
Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow [in ashes], you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.
Wail, Cheshbon, for `Ai is laid waste; cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malkam shall go into captivity, his Kohanim and his princes together.
Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people, it is on all the princes of Yisra'el: they are delivered over to the sword with my people; strike therefore on your thigh.
Put on sackcloth and mourn, you Kohanim! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God's house.
Blow the shofar in Tziyon, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is close at hand:
The LORD thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?