The Lord calls loudly to his army. His camp is very large. The army obeys his commands. His army is very powerful. The Lord’s special day is a great and terrible day. No one can stop it.
“No one can prepare for that time or stand against him when he comes. He will be like a burning fire. He will be like the strong soap people use to make things clean.
The Lord God will shout from Zion. He will shout from Jerusalem, and the sky and the earth will shake. But the Lord God will be a safe place for his people. He will be a place of safety for the people of Israel.
But God will get them back. His name is the Lord God All-Powerful. He will defend them very strongly. He will argue their case so that he can let their land rest. But there will be no rest for those living in Babylon.”
The Lord will go out like a strong soldier. Like a man going into battle, he will be full of excitement. He will shout with a loud cry, and he will defeat his enemies.
“Listen to that loud noise in the mountains. It sounds like crowds of people. People from many kingdoms are gathering together. The Lord All-Powerful is calling his army together.
“Jeremiah, you will give them this message: ‘The Lord shouts from above. He shouts from his holy Temple. He shouts against his people. His shouts are loud like the songs of people walking on grapes to make wine.
Some of you want to see the Lord’s special day of judgment. Why do you want to see that day of the Lord? His special day will bring darkness, not light.
Amos said, “The Lord will shout like a lion in Zion. His loud voice will roar from Jerusalem. The green pastures of the shepherds will turn brown and die. Even Mount Carmel will become dry.”
“I, the Lord, sent my army against you. The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts ate everything you had. But I will pay you back for those years of trouble.
“At that time the Lord will call for the ‘Fly’ that is now near the streams of Egypt, and he will call for the ‘Bee’ that is now in the country of Assyria. Those enemies will come to your country.
The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the people who have died and were in Christ will rise first.
A powerful nation came to attack my land. Its soldiers were too many to count. Its weapons were as sharp as a lion’s teeth and as powerful as a lion’s jaw.
Blow the trumpet on Zion. Shout a warning on my holy mountain. Let all the people who live in the land shake with fear. The Lord’s special day is coming; it is near.
It will be a dark, gloomy day. It will be a dark and cloudy day. At sunrise you will see the army spread over the mountains. It will be a great and powerful army. There has never been anything like it before, and there will never be anything like it again.
The Day of the Lord is coming soon to all the nations. And the evil you did to others will happen to you. The same bad things will fall down on your own head.
You went up to your high place, leading a parade of captives. You received gifts from people, even those who turned against you. The Lord God went up there to live.