13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹  is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ² 

13:7 For this reason all hands hang limp, ³ 

every human heart loses its courage. ⁴ 

13:8 They panic –

cramps and pain seize hold of them

like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.

They look at one another in astonishment;

their faces are flushed red. ⁵ 

13:9 Look, the Lord’s day of judgment ⁶  is coming;

it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, ⁷ 

destroying ⁸  the earth ⁹ 

and annihilating its sinners.

13:10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations

no longer give out their light; ¹⁰ 

the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,

and the moon does not shine. ¹¹ 

13:11 ¹² 

I will punish the world for its evil, ¹³ 

and wicked people for their sin.

I will put an end to the pride of the insolent,

I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. ¹⁴ 

13:12 I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold,

and people more scarce ¹⁵  than gold from Ophir.

13:13 So I will shake the heavens, ¹⁶ 

and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, ¹⁷ 

because of the fury of the Lord who commands armies,

in the day he vents his raging anger. ¹⁸ 

13:14 Like a frightened gazelle ¹⁹ 

or a sheep with no shepherd,

each will turn toward home, ²⁰ 

each will run to his homeland.

13:15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;

everyone who is seized ²¹  will die ²²  by the sword.

13:16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;

their houses will be looted

and their wives raped.