⁷ “They^(A) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
^(B)Aliens would swallow it up.

⁵ Awake, you ^(A)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
^(B)For it has been cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For ^(C)a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
^(D)His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a ^[a]fierce lion.
⁷ He has ^(E)laid waste My vine,
And ^[b]ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.

^8 (F)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For ^(G)the husband of her youth.
^9 (H)The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests ^(I)mourn, who minister to the Lord.
¹⁰ The field is wasted,
^(J)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
^(K)The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.

^11 (L)Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
^12 (M)The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely ^(N)joy has withered away from the sons of men.

¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
^(A)Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He ^(B)comes and rains righteousness on you.

^13 (C)You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
¹⁴ Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
¹⁵ Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.