Isaiah 5:22–30

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

who are champions at pouring beer,^x

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe^y

and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw

and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,

so their roots will become like something rotten

and their blossoms will blow away like dust,

for they have rejected^a

the instruction of the Lord of Armies,

and they have despised

the word of the Holy One of Israel.^b

²⁵Therefore the Lord’s anger burned^c against his people.

He raised his hand against them and struck them;

the mountains quaked,^d

and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.

In all this, his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is still raised to strike.^e

²⁶He raises a signal flag for the distant nations^f

and whistles^g for them from the ends of the earth.

Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!

²⁷None of them grows weary or stumbles;^h

no one slumbers or sleeps.

No belt is loose

and no sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows strung.

Their horses’ hooves are like flint;

their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion’s;ⁱ

they roar like young lions;^j

they growl and seize their prey

and carry it off,

and no one can rescue it.

³⁰On that day they will roar over it,

like the roaring of the sea.

When one looks at the land,

there will be darkness and distress;

light will be obscured by clouds.^B