20 How terrible it will be for people who call good things badand bad things good,who think darkness is lightand light is darkness,who think sour is sweetand sweet is sour.
21 How terrible it will be for people who think they are wiseand believe they are clever.
22 How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wineand are champions at mixing drinks.
23 They take money to set the guilty freeand don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.
24 They will be destroyedjust as fire burns straw or dry grass.They will be destroyedlike a plant whose roots rotand whose flower dies and blows away like dust.They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerfuland have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
25 So 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.
26 He 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!