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

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

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up upon my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw-teeth of a lioness.

He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. He has made it clean bare, and cast it away. The branches of it are made white.

The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of LORD. The priests, LORD's ministers, mourn.

The vine is withered, and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. For joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, ye priests. Wail, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lay all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withheld from the house of your G

Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the old men [and] all the inhabitants of the land to the house of LORD your God, and cry to LORD.

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

The seeds rot under their clods. The garners are laid desolate. The barns are broken down. For the grain is withered.

How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

Yea, the beasts of the field pant to thee, for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

They leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces have grown pale.

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

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

Yet even now, says LORD, turn ye 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 to LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents of the evil.

Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering to LORD your God?

Be glad then, ye sons of Zion, and rejoice in LORD your God, for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month].

And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. And shall praise the name of LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am LORD your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never be put to shame.

And it shall come to pass afterward, 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, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompense? And if ye recompense me, I will return your recompense swiftly and speedily upon your own head.

Inasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things,

behold, I will stir them up out of the place where ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon 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 men of Sheba, to a nation far off. For LORD has spoken it.

Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war. Stir 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.

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

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