Hear this, you old men, and give ear, all dwellers of the land. Has this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell your sons of it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons another generation.

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

For a nation has come up on My land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw teeth of a lioness.

The food offering 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 droops, the pomegranate and the palm tree, and the apple tree; all the trees of the field are dried up, because joy has dried up from the sons of men.

Gird up and lament, priests; howl, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God. For the food offering and the drink offering are held back from the house of your God.

Set apart a fast; call a solemn gathering; gather the elders and all the people of the land into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to the Lord,

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

The seed is rotten under their clods; the storage bins are laid waste; the barns are broken down, for the grain has dried up.

How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are troubled because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are destroyed.

The beasts of the field also cry to You; for the rivers of water are dried up, and the fire has burned up the pastures of the wilderness.

As the appearance of horses is its appearance; and as war horses, so they run.

They shall run like mighty ones. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march each one on his way, and they shall not break their ranks.

Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil.

Who knows if He will turn and have pity and leave a blessing behind Him, a food offering and a drink offering to Jehovah your God?

Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Have pity on Your people, O Jehovah, and give not Your inheritance to shame, for a proverb among those of the nations. Why should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Be glad then, sons of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God. For He has given you the former rain according to righteousness, and He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month.

And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God, who has dealt with you wonderfully; and My people shall never be ashamed.

And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and no one else; and My people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall be afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.

Yea, and what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Will you give Me a reward? And if you reward Me, swiftly and speedily I will turn your reward on your own head,

because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My good treasures into your temples.

Behold, I am raising them out of the place where you have sold them, and will turn your reward on your own head.

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; for Jehovah has spoken it.

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong.

Gather yourselves and come, all you nations, and gather yourselves together all around; cause Your mighty ones to come down there, O Jehovah.

So you shall know that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be a holy thing, and no aliens shall pass through her any more.