Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation:

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.

For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a lioness.

He hath made my vine a desolation, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away: its branches are made white.

The oblation and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn.

The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm also and the apple-tree; all the trees of the field are withered, yea, joy is withered away from the children of men.

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests; howl, ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the oblation and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God.

Hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

The seeds are rotten under their clods, the granaries are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered, for they have no pasture; the flocks of sheep also are in suffering.

The beasts of the field also cry unto thee; for the water-courses are dried, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Like the noise of chariots, on the tops of the mountains, they leap; like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Before them the peoples are in anguish: all faces turn pale.

They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and break not their ranks.

Neither doth one press upon another; they march every one in his path; and fall amid weapons, but are not wounded.

The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth? He might return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, an oblation and a drink-offering for Jehovah your God?

Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare, O Jehovah, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that they should be a byword of the nations. Wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

And ye, children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the early rain in due measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the early rain, and the latter rain at the beginning of the season.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God, who hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, Jehovah, am your God, and there is none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompence? But if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I bring your recompence upon your own head;

because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful pleasant things,

Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring your recompence upon your own head.

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken.

Proclaim this among the nations: prepare war, arouse the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.

And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, am your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more.