"Hear this, you elders! Listen, all of you residents of the land! Has there ever been anything like this during your lifetime, or even when your ancestors were alive?

The grape gatherers shall make great moan, when the vineyard and fig trees be so utterly wasted. Yea all the pomegranates, palm trees, apple trees, and the other trees of the field shall wither away. Thus the merry cheer of the children of men shall come to confusion.

People writhe in fear when they see them. All of their faces turn pale with fright.

Neither does a man crowd his fellow soldier; each one marches in his own path. When they fall by the sword they are not injured.

Rip your heart to pieces [in sorrow and contrition] and not your garments.”
Now return [in repentance] to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness [faithful to His covenant with His people];
And He relents [His sentence of] evil [when His people genuinely repent].

For lo, in those days, and in that time, When I turn back to the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,