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In Zephaniah 1:8, the Day of the L ORD is equated with "the day of the L ORD's sacrifice".
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Yet Joel 2:32 holds a promise that on the Day of the Lord, "everyone who calls on the name of the L ORD will be saved." Thus, the day of the Lord is about God chastening his people, whether it be through the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem or a locust plague described in Joel 2:1–11. Because Israel had sinned, God would come in judgement on them. Wright suggests that the phrase was already a standard one, and Amos' hearers would take it to mean "the day when Yahweh would intervene to put Israel at the head of the nations, irrespective of Israel's faithfulness to Him." Yet Amos declares "Woe to you who long for the day of the L ORD! Why do you long for the day of the L ORD? That day will be darkness, not light" ( Amos 5:18 NIV). Another early use of the phrase is in Amos 5:18-20. In the biblical canon, the earliest, direct use of the phrase is in Isaiah 2: "For the day of the L ORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low" ( Isaiah 2:12). This concept develops throughout Jewish and Christian Scripture into a day of divine, apocalyptic judgment at the end of the world.
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Other prophets use the imagery as a warning to Israel or its leaders and for them, the day of the Lord will mean destruction for the biblical nations of Israel and/or Judah. In certain prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible, the enemies of the Lord are Israel's enemies, and in these visions the day of the Lord brings victory for the people of ancient Israel. It relies on military images to describe the Lord as a " divine warrior" who will conquer his enemies. It is used first by Isaiah and subsequently incorporated into prophetic and apocalyptic texts of the Bible.
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