A Call to Lament

8 Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth,

lamenting the death of her husband-to-be.

9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of the Lord anymore.

So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.

10 The crops of the fields have been destroyed.

The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.

The fresh wine has dried up;

the olive oil languishes.

11 Be distressed, farmers;

wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.

For the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine has dried up;

the fig tree languishes –

the pomegranate, date, and apple as well.

In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up.

Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up!

13 Get dressed and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore.

14 Announce a holy fast;

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15 How awful that day will be!

For the day of the Lord is near;

it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.

16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes!

There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God!

17 The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels.

Storehouses have been decimated

and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

18 Listen to the cattle groan!

The herds of livestock wander around in confusion

because they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help,

for fire has burned up the grassy pastures,

flames have razed all the trees in the fields.

20 Even the wild animals cry out to you;

for the river beds have dried up;

fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

2 Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,

for the day of the Lord is about to come.

Indeed, it is near!

2 It will be a day of dreadful darkness,

a day of foreboding storm clouds,

like blackness spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!

3 Like fire they devour everything in their path;

a flame blazes behind them.

The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them,

but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –

for nothing escapes them!

4 They look like horses;

they charge ahead like war horses.

5 They sound like chariots rumbling over mountain tops,

like the crackling of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of a mighty army being drawn up for battle.

6 People writhe in fear when they see them.

All of their faces turn pale with fright.

7 They charge like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers.

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter their path.

8 They do not jostle one another;

each of them marches straight ahead.

They burst through the city defenses

and do not break ranks.

9 They rush into the city;

they scale its walls.

They climb up into the houses;

they go in through the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them;

the sky reverberates.

The sun and the moon grow dark;

the stars refuse to shine.

11 The voice of the Lord thunders as he leads his army.

Indeed, his warriors are innumerable;

Surely his command is carried out!

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome

and very terrifying – who can survive it?