The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is disgraced and withered. The fields of Sharon are like a desert. The lands of Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
The heavenly powers will fade away to nothing, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. All their mighty host will wither as leaves fall from a withered vine or fruit from a withering fig tree.
When the royal court was told that Syria had formed an alliance with the northern kingdom of Israel, the heart of King Ahaz and all his people trembled with fear, like trees swaying in the wind.
At the top of his voice, he announced: ‘Cut down the tree, lop off its branches, strip off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Drive away the animals from beneath its shelter and the birds from its branches.
“Then immediately this is what will take place: ‘The sun will be darkened and the moon give no light. The stars will fall from the sky and all the cosmic powers will be shaken.’
“Expect to witness amazing and perplexing signs with the sun, the moon, and the stars. The raging of the sea will bring desperation and turmoil to many nations.
Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that fell from heaven to earth, and he was handed the key to the shaft leading down to the pit of the deep.