Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(A)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.

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12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day(A)
to weep(B) and to wail,
    to tear out your hair(C) and put on sackcloth.(D)

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15 Has not the one God made you?(A) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[a](B) So be on your guard,(C) and do not be unfaithful(D) to the wife of your youth.

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.

Warning to Rich Oppressors

Now listen,(A) you rich people,(B) weep and wail(C) because of the misery that is coming on you.

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Come near to God and he will come near to you.(A) Wash your hands,(B) you sinners, and purify your hearts,(C) you double-minded.(D) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(E)

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10 I will turn your religious festivals(A) into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.(B)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(C)
    and shave(D) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(E)
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(F)

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Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return(A) to me with all your heart,(B)
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart(C)
    and not your garments.(D)
Return(E) to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,(F)
slow to anger and abounding in love,(G)
    and he relents from sending calamity.(H)
14 Who knows? He may turn(I) and relent(J)
    and leave behind a blessing(K)
grain offerings and drink offerings(L)
    for the Lord your God.

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A Call to Lamentation

13 Put on sackcloth,(A) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister(B) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(C)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(D)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land(E)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out(F) to the Lord.(G)

15 Alas for that(H) day!
    For the day of the Lord(I) is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[a](J)

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:15 Hebrew Shaddai

17 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women(A) to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
18 Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.(B)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined(C) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

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Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father,(A) my friend from my youth,(B)

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11 Tremble,(A) you complacent women;
    shudder, you daughters who feel secure!(B)
Strip off your fine clothes(C)
    and wrap yourselves in rags.(D)

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The new wine dries up(A) and the vine withers;(B)
    all the merrymakers groan.(C)
The joyful timbrels(D) are stilled,
    the noise(E) of the revelers(F) has stopped,
    the joyful harp(G) is silent.(H)
No longer do they drink wine(I) with a song;
    the beer is bitter(J) to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city(K) lies desolate;(L)
    the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out(M) for wine;(N)
    all joy turns to gloom,(O)
    all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,(P)
    its gate(Q) is battered to pieces.

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17 who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God

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