“The Lord is my helper;
    I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”

¹⁵ Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty^[a] it comes.^(A)
16 Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?^(B)

¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods;^[b]
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
    because the grain has withered.
¹⁸ How the animals groan!
    The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep are perishing.^(C)

¹⁹ To you, O Lord, I cry,
for fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
    all the trees of the field.^(D)
20 Even the wild animals cry to you
    because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.^(E)

² Judah mourns,
    and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground,
    and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.^(A)
3 Her^[a] nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed
    and cover their heads,^(B)
4 because the ground is cracked.
    Because there has been no rain on the land,
the farmers are dismayed;
    they cover their heads.^(C)
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
⁶ The wild asses stand on the bare heights;^[b]
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no herbage.^(D)

¹² I, I am he who comforts you;
    why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
    a human being who fades like grass?^(A)

28 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
    but the righteous are as bold as a lion.^(A)