31
That is how it will be in those days. Three or four will be missed by the soldiers who search through the houses to kill everyone.
32
The land will be left empty; the fields will be overgrown with briers; the roads and paths will be covered with weeds and thorns because there will be no sheep to graze along them.
33
Young women will be in mourning because there is no one to marry them; wives will be in mourning because they have lost their husbands; daughters will be in mourning because there is no one to help them.
34
All the young men will be killed in the war, and all the married men will die in the famine.
35
Now listen to my message, you people who serve the Lord.
36
It is the Lord's message, so receive it and believe what he says.
37
The disasters are approaching rapidly, and they will not be delayed.
38
A woman in the ninth month of pregnancy may suffer labor pains for several hours, but when the time comes for the baby to be born, there is no longer any delay.
39
In the same way, the disasters that are coming on the earth will not be delayed, and the world will groan when it is caught in its labor pains.
40
Listen to my message, my people, and get ready for the battle. When the disasters come, you must live as people whose home is not in this world.
41
Merchants must not expect to make a profit from what they sell; they must be ready to run for their lives. Their customers must expect to lose whatever they buy. Whoever builds a house should not plan to live in it.