The attack by locusts

2 You leaders of Israel, and everyone else who lives in this country, listen to this message!

Nothing [RHQ] like this has ever happened during the time that we have lived

or the time when our ancestors lived.

3 Tell your children about it,

and tell your children to tell it to their children,

and tell your grandchildren to tell it to their children.

4 I am talking about the locusts that have eaten our crops.

The first swarm of locusts came and cut many of the leaves of the crops;

then another swarm came and ate the rest of the leaves,

then another swarm came hopping along,

and finally another swarm came

and they destroyed everything else.

5 You people who are drunk, wake up!

Wake up and wail loudly,

because all the grapes are ruined,

and so there will be no new wine [MTY]!

6 Huge swarms of locusts have entered our country.

They are like [MET] a powerful army

that has very many soldiers,

with the result that no one can count them.

The locusts have teeth that are as sharp as the teeth of lions [DOU]!

7 They have destroyed our grapevines and our fig trees

by stripping off and eating all the bark,

with the result that the branches are white and ◄bare/have no leaves on them►.

8 Cry like [SIM] a young woman cries

when the young man to whom she was ◄engaged/promised to marry► has died.

9 There is no grain or wine for us to offer as sacrifices at the temple,

so the priests who serve Yahweh are mourning/weeping.

10 The crops in the fields have been ruined;

it is as though [PRS] the ground is mourning.

The grain has been destroyed,

there are no grapes to make wine,

and there is no more olive oil.

11 You farmers, grieve!

You who take care of grapevines, wail,

because the grain has been destroyed;

there is no wheat or barley growing.

12 The grapevines and the fig trees have withered,

and the pomegranate trees and palm trees and apricot trees have also dried up.

The people are no longer joyful.

13 You priests, put on rough sack clothes and wail.

You who serve God by offering sacrifices on the altar,

wear those rough sack clothes all night to show that you are mourning,

because there is no grain or wine to be offered at the temple of your God.

14 Tell the people that they should ◄fast/abstain from eating food►.

Tell the leaders and the other people to gather at the temple

and to cry out to Yahweh there.

15 Terrible things are happening to us!

It will soon be the time when Yahweh, who is the Almighty God, will really punish us,

when he will cause us to experience more disasters.

16 Our crops are already gone,

and no one is rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.

17 When we plant seeds, they do not grow;

they dry up in the ground,

so there are no crops to harvest.

Our barns/storehouses are empty;

there is no grain to store in them.

18 Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat,

and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.

19 Yahweh, I cry out to you,

because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].

20 It is as though even the wild animals cry out to you

because all the streams have dried up.

The rivers and streams are all dry,

and the grass in the pastures is all parched.

A warning about the locusts

2 Blow trumpets on Zion Hill,

God’s sacred hill in Jerusalem!

Tell the people of Judah that they should tremble,

because it will soon be the time for Yahweh to punish us further.

2 That will be a very dark and gloomy day;

there will be black clouds and it will be very dark.

A huge swarm of locusts has covered the mountains like [SIM] a black cloud.

Nothing like this has ever happened before,

and nothing like this will ever happen again.

3 It is as though the locusts bring flames of fire

from which no one can escape.

In front of them, the land was beautiful like [SIM] the garden of Eden,

but behind them the land is like a desert

and nothing survives.

4 The locusts resemble horses,

and they run like [SIM] war horses.

5 Leaping over the mountaintops,

they make a noise like rumbling chariots,

like [SIM] a mighty army that is preparing for a battle,

or like [SIM] the roar of a fire that burns up stubble in a field.

6 When people see them coming,

they become very pale and frightened.

7 The locusts climb over walls like soldiers do;

they march along in columns

and never turn aside from their columns.

8 They rush straight ahead

without pushing each other.

Even though people throw spears and javelins at them,

that will not cause them to stop.

9 They swarm over the city walls and enter our houses;

they enter through our windows like [SIM] thieves do.

10 It is as though they cause the earth to shake and the sky to tremble.

The sun and the moon become dark

and the stars do not shine

because there are so many locusts in the sky.

11 Yahweh leads this army of countless locusts,

and they obey his commands.

This time when he is judging and punishing us is very terrible,

with the result that it seems that no one [RHQ] can survive it.

Yahweh calls them to repent

12 But Yahweh says,

“In spite of these disasters that you have experienced,

you can return to me with all your inner beings.

Weep, and mourn, and ◄fast/abstain from eating food► to show that you are sorry for having abandoned me.

13 Do not tear your clothes

to show that you are sorry;

instead, show [MET] that you are sorry.”

Yahweh is merciful and kind;

he does not quickly become angry;

he faithfully loves people.

He does not quickly become angry;

instead, he greatly and faithfully loves you,

and he does not like to punish you.

14 No one knows [RHQ] if he will change his mind about punishing you

and if instead he will act mercifully toward you.

If he does that, he will bless you

by giving you plenty of grain and wine

in order that you can offer some of those things as sacrifices to him.

15 Blow the trumpets on Zion Hill!

Gather the people together!

Show by fasting that you are sorry for the sins that you have committed.

16 Perform the rituals to cause yourselves to be acceptable to Yahweh.

Gather everyone together—

the old people and the children, even the babies,

and summon brides and bridegrooms from their rooms.

17 Tell the priests who serve Yahweh to cry between the altar and the entrance to the temple

and to pray this:

“Yahweh, rescue/save us your people;

do not allow people from other nations to despise us;

do not allow them to ridicule us and say,

‘Why has [RHQ] their God abandoned them?’”

Yahweh promised to prosper them again

18 But Yahweh showed that he was concerned about his people

and that he would act mercifully toward them.

19 When the people prayed,

Yahweh answered and said,

“I will give you plenty of grain and wine and olive oil,

and you will be satisfied.

And I will no longer allow other nations to insult you.

20 Another army of locusts will come from the north to attack you,

but I will force them to continue past Jerusalem

into the desert.

Some will go into the Dead Sea in the east

and some will go into the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

There they will all die, and their bodies will stink.”

Yahweh does great things!

21 He does wonderful things!

So even the ground should rejoice!

22 And the wild animals should not be afraid,

because the meadows will soon become green again;

the fig trees and other trees will be full of fruit,

and the grapevines will be covered with grapes.

23 You people of Jerusalem,

rejoice about what Yahweh, your God, will be doing for you.

He will send abundant rain at the ◄right time/time when it is needed►—

◄in the spring/early in the year► and ◄in the autumn/late in the year►

like he did previously.

24 The ground where you thresh the grain will be covered with grain,

and your vats where you store grape juice and olive oil will be full.

25 Yahweh said, “I will repay you for everything that was destroyed by those great swarms of locusts

that I sent to attack you.

26 You, my people, will eat until your stomachs are full.

Then you will praise me [MTY], Yahweh, your God,

for the wonderful things that I have done for you.

And never again will you be disgraced.

27 When that happens, you will know that I am always among you,

and that I am Yahweh, your God,

and that there is no other God.

Never again will you be disgraced.”

Yahweh promised to send his Spirit

28 “Some time later, I will give my Spirit to many [HYP] people.

Your sons and daughters will proclaim messages that come directly from me.

Your old men will have dreams that come from me,

and your young men will have visions that come from me.

29 At that time, I will give my Spirit even to servants, both men and women.

30 I will do unusual/amazing things on the earth and in the sky.

On the earth [CHI], there will be much blood shed

and there will be very large fires and smoke that resembles huge clouds.

31 In the sky, the sun will become dark and the moon will become as red as [MET] blood.

Those things will happen before that great and terrible day when I, Yahweh, appear.

32 But at that time I will save everyone who worships me.

I promise that some people in Jerusalem [DOU] will escape those disasters;

those whom I have chosen will survive.”

Yahweh will judge the nations

3 Yahweh says this:

“At that time [DOU], I will enable the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah to prosper again.

2 Then in the Valley of Judgment I will gather together the people of all the other nations;

I will judge and punish them

because they scattered my Israeli people

and forced them to go to other countries.

They divided up my land

3 and they ◄threw marked stones/cast lots► to determine who would get each of my people.

Then they sold some of the Israeli boys and girls

to get money to pay for prostitutes and wine to drink.

4 You people of [APO] Tyre and Sidon cities and you people of the Philistia region, I certainly have not [RHQ] done anything to harm you! So if you are trying to get revenge on me, I will very quickly get revenge on you. 5 You have taken the silver and gold and other valuable things from my temple and put them in your temples. 6 You dragged away the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah, and you took them far away and sold them to people in Greece.

7 But I will cause my people to want to return from the places to which you sold them, and I will do to you what you did to them. 8 Then I will cause some of your sons and your daughters to be sold to the people of Judah! And some of them will be sold to the Sabea people-group, who live far away. That will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

God will judge and punish the nations

9 Proclaim to the people of all nations,

“Prepare for a war!

Summon your soldiers,

and tell them to stand in their battle positions.

10 Take your plows and make swords from them,

and take your pruning knives and make spears from them.

Even the weak people must also be like [MET] strong soldiers.

11 All you people from the nations that are near Judah

must come quickly and gather in the Valley of Judgment.”

But Yahweh, when that happens, send your army of angels to attack them!

12 The people in the nations near Judah must get ready and come to the Valley of Judgment.

There Yahweh will sit and judge and punish them.

13 They are like [MET] crops that are ready to be harvested;

so strike them like [MET] a farmer swings his sickle to cut the grain.

They are like [MET] grapes that are piled high in the pits where they will be pressed;

because they are very wicked,

punish them severely [MET] now,

like [MET] a farmer tramples on the grapes until the pits are full of juice.

14 There will be huge crowds of people in that Valley of Judgment.

It will soon be the time that Yahweh will punish them.

15 At that time there will be no light from the sun or moon,

and the stars will not shine.

16 From Zion Hill in Jerusalem Yahweh will shout,

and his voice will be like thunder,

and his voice will cause the sky and the earth to shake.

But Yahweh will protect [MET] his people;

he will be like [MET] a strong wall behind which the people of Israel will be protected.

God’s blessings for his people

17 Yahweh says, “At that time, you Israeli people will know that I am Yahweh, your God.

I live on Zion, my sacred hill.

Jerusalem will be a sacred city,

and soldiers from other countries will never conquer it again.

18 At that time, there will be vineyards covering [MTY] the hills,

and your cattle and goats on those hills will produce plenty of milk.

The streams in Judah will never dry up.

And a stream will flow from my temple into the Acacia Valley northeast of the Dead Sea.

19 The armies of Egypt and Edom attacked the people of Judah

and killed [MTY] many people who had not done anything that was wrong.

So now those countries will become deserts,

20 but there will always be people living in Jerusalem and in other places in Judea.

21 I, Yahweh, live on Zion Hill in Jerusalem,

and I will get revenge on the people of Egypt and Edom who killed [MTY] many of my people.”