⁴ What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten;
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.^(D)

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
    and wail, all you wine drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For a nation has invaded my land,
    powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.^(E)
7 It has laid waste my vines
    and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches have turned white.^(F)

⁸ Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
    for the husband of her youth.^(G)
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
    the ministers of the Lord.^(H)
10 The fields are devastated,
    the ground mourns,
for the grain is destroyed,
    the wine dries up,
    the oil fails.^(I)

¹¹ Be dismayed, you farmers;
    wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
    for the crops of the field are ruined.^(J)
12 The vine withers;
    the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
    all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
    among the people.^(K)

¹⁴ Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.^(M)

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

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.^(P)

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.^(Q)
20 Even the wild animals cry to you
    because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.^(R)

2 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—^(A)
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains,
    a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
    nor will be again after them
    in ages to come.^(B)

³ Fire devours in front of them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
    but after them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.^(C)

⁴ They have the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they charge.^(D)
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.^(E)

⁶ Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.^[a](F)
7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
Each keeps to its own course;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
⁸ They do not jostle one another;
    each keeps to its own track;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
⁹ They leap upon the city;
    they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses;
    they enter through the windows like a thief.^(G)

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.^(H)
11 The Lord utters his voice
    at the head of his army;
how vast is his host!
    Numberless are those who obey his command.
Truly the day of the Lord is great,
    terrible indeed—who can endure it?^(I)

¹² Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;^(J)
13     rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
    and relenting from punishment.^(K)
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?^(L)