So this sin will become your downfall. You will be like a high wall that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse; it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ¹ 

“I announced events beforehand, ¹  I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ²  suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ¹  Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!

Your creditors will suddenly attack; ¹  those who terrify you will spring into action, ²  and they will rob you. ³ 

Suddenly ¹  a sound ²  like a violent wind blowing ³  came from heaven ⁴  and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds ¹  of all the prisoners came loose.

As ¹  I was en route and near Damascus, ²  about noon a very bright ³  light from heaven ⁴  suddenly flashed ⁵  around me.

I see ¹  one destruction after another taking place, so that the whole land lies in ruins. I see our ²  tents suddenly destroyed, their ³  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ⁴ 

Let cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ¹  For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into.

“‘If anyone dies very suddenly ¹  beside him and he defiles ²  his consecrated head, ³  then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.

Their widows will become in my sight more numerous ¹  than the grains of sand on the seashores. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men. ²  I will cause anguish ³  and terror to fall suddenly upon them. ⁴ 

The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went.

Surely, no one ¹  knows his appointed time! ²  Like fish that are caught in a deadly ³  net, and like birds that are caught in a snare – just like them, all people ⁴  are ensnared ⁵  at an unfortunate ⁶  time that falls upon them suddenly.

A ¹  spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams; ²  it throws him into convulsions ³  and causes him to foam at the mouth. It hardly ever leaves him alone, torturing ⁴  him severely.

So I said, ¹  “Oh, my dear people, ²  put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now ³  that destructive army ⁴  will come against us.”

But they were expecting that he was going to swell up ¹  or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited ²  a long time and had seen ³  nothing unusual happen ⁴  to him, they changed their minds ⁵  and said he was a god. ⁶ 

How desolate they become in a mere moment! Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹ 

The one who walks blamelessly will be delivered, ¹  but whoever is perverse in his ways will fall ²  at once. ³ 

Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. ¹  Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. ² 

“I am about to send my messenger, ¹  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ³  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.