Isaiah 5:22–30

²²How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine

and are champions at mixing drinks.

²³They take money to set the guilty free

and don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.

²⁴They will be destroyed

just as fire burns straw or dry grass.

They will be destroyed

like a plant whose roots rot

and whose flower dies and blows away like dust.

They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful

and have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.

²⁵So the Lord has become very angry with his people,

and he has raised his hand to punish them.

Even the mountains are frightened.

Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.

But the Lord is still angry;

his hand is still raised to strike down the people.

²⁶He raises a banner for the nations far away.

He whistles to call those people from the ends of the earth.

Look! The enemy comes quickly!

²⁷Not one of them becomes tired or falls down.

Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.

Their weapons are close at hand,

and their sandal straps are not broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharp,

and all of their bows are ready to shoot.

The horses’ hoofs are hard as rocks,

and their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their shout is like the roar of a lion;

it is loud like a young lion.

They growl as they grab their captives.

There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.

³⁰On that day they will roar

like the waves of the sea.

And when people look at the land,

they will see only darkness and pain;

all light will become dark in this thick cloud.