² A day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
as blackness spreads over the mountains.
A great and mighty people—
from antiquity there was never anything like it,
nor after it ever again from generation to generation.^[a]
3 A fire devours before them
and behind them flame blazes up.
Like the Garden of Eden is the land before them,
    and behind them a desolate wilderness.
Nothing at all ever escapes them.
⁴ Their appearance is like the appearance of horses—
they gallop like war horses.^[b]