2
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their childrenanothergeneration.
4
That which the palmerworm[a] hath left hath the locusteaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerwormeaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillereaten.
5
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6
For a nation is come up upon my land,strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7
He hath laid my vinewaste, and barked[b] my fig tree: he hath made it cleanbare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8
Lament like a virgingirded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9
The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'Sministers, mourn.
10
The field is wasted, the landmourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oillanguisheth.
11
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen;howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12
The vine is dried up, and the fig treelanguisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests:howl, ye ministers of the altar:come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
14
Sanctify ye a fast,call a solemn assembly,gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,