^(B)“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”

^15 (A)Alas for the day!
For ^(B)the day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
¹⁶ Is not the food ^(C)cut off before our eyes,
^(D)Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
¹⁸ How ^(E)the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep ^[a]suffer punishment.

¹⁹ O Lord, ^(F)to You I cry out;
For ^(G)fire has devoured the ^[b]open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
²⁰ The beasts of the field also ^(H)cry out to You,
For ^(I)the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the ^[c]open pastures.

² “Judah mourns,
And ^(A)her gates languish;
They ^(B)mourn for the land,
And ^(C)the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
³ Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were ^(D)ashamed and confounded
^(E)And covered their heads.
⁴ Because the ground is parched,
For there was ^(F)no rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
⁵ Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But ^[a]left because there was no grass.
⁶ And ^(G)the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

¹² “I, even I, am He ^(A)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
^(B)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made ^(C)like grass?