Add parallel Print Page Options

13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests!
    Wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God,[a]
    for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.
14 Sanctify a fast.
    Call a solemn assembly.
    Gather the elders,
    and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God,
    and cry to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day!
    For the day of Yahweh is at hand,
    and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes,
    joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds rot under their clods.
    The granaries are laid desolate.
    The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
    The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture.
    Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19 Yahweh, I cry to you,
    For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
    and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you,
    for the water brooks have dried up,
    And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:13 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).

13 Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests!
    Wail, you who serve before the altar!
Come, spend the night in burlap,
    you ministers of my God.
For there is no grain or wine
    to offer at the Temple of your God.
14 Announce a time of fasting;
    call the people together for a solemn meeting.
Bring the leaders
    and all the people of the land
into the Temple of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to him there.
15 The day of the Lord is near,
    the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.
    How terrible that day will be!

16 Our food disappears before our very eyes.
    No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.
17 The seeds die in the parched ground,
    and the grain crops fail.
The barns stand empty,
    and granaries are abandoned.
18 How the animals moan with hunger!
    The herds of cattle wander about confused,
because they have no pasture.
    The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery.

19 Lord, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
    and flames have burned up all the trees.
20 Even the wild animals cry out to you
    because the streams have dried up,
    and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.

Read full chapter