The Women of Jerusalem

Stand up, you complacent women;

listen to me

Give ear to my word,

you overconfident daughters.

10 

In a little more than a year you will tremble,

O secure ones.

For the grape harvest will fail

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

11 

Shudder, you ladies of leisure;

tremble, you daughters of complacency.

Strip yourselves bare

and put sackcloth around your waists.

12 

Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vines,

13 

and for the land of my people,

overgrown with thorns and briers —

even for every house of merriment

in this city of revelry.

14 

For the palace will be forsaken,

the busy city abandoned.

The hill[fn] and the watchtower will become caves forever

the delight of wild donkeys

and a pasture for flocks —

15 

until the Spirit is poured out

upon us from on high.

Then the desert will be an orchard,

and the orchard will seem like a forest.

16 

Then justice will inhabit the wilderness,

and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.

17 

The work of righteousness will be peace;

the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever

18 

Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place,

in safe and secure places of rest.

19 

But hail will level the forest,

and the city will sink to the depths.

20 

Blessed [are] those who sow beside abundant waters,

who let the ox and donkey range freely 33