“See!
The day of Yahweh comes!
It will be cruel!
There will be wrath
With fierce anger.
He will make the earth
A desolation.
He will destroy its sinners.
The stars of the heavens
Will not give their light.
Their constellations
Will not give their light.
The sun will be dark at its rising.
The moon
Will not shed its light.”
If the preceding section was about Babylon, this is a wider apocalyptic total destruction on the day of Yahweh, a kind of dark end of time. This day of the Lord will be a cruel day with wrath and anger. The earth will become desolate as sinners will be destroyed. All the heavenly lights will be extinguished. The stars in the heavens as well as the constellations will no longer give any light. Even the rising sun will be dark, while the moon will no longer glow. This will be a time of total darkness.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 