Then the inhabitants of the coastland will say in that day, ‘Look, such is our hope—there we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”
They say to wood, ‘You are my father’ and to a stone, ‘You birthed me.’ They have turned their back to Me and not their face. Yet when they are in trouble they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
Where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them come—if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as y0u have cities, O Judah.
So now, do not fear, Jacob My servant,” says Adonai, “nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from afar, your seed from the land of their exile. Jacob will again be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid.
“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by on the road? Look and see! Is any suffering like my suffering that was brought on me, that Adonai has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger?
How can I admonish you? To what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, so that I might console you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea! Who can heal you?
“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nation until then. But at that time your people—everyone who is found written in the book—will be delivered.
So He has confirmed His words that he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled over us by bringing on us a great calamity. Under the whole heaven nothing like this has ever been done to Jerusalem!
Adonai utters His voice before His army. For His camp is very vast—for mighty is it that carries out His word. For great is the day of Adonai— very terrifying! Who can endure it?
I heard, and my belly trembled. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay comes into my bones. I tremble where I stand, since I must wait quietly for a day of distress to come up against the people who will invade us.
“For in those days there will be trouble such as has never happened, not since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.