I always thought that verse was metaphorical. I never thought it would be this blatant and stark.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.
Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.
In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.