Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ You answer us in amazing ways,
    God our Savior.
People everywhere on the earth
    and beyond the sea trust you.
⁶ You made the mountains by your strength;
    you are dressed in power.
⁷ You stopped the roaring seas,
    the roaring waves,
    and the uproar of the nations.
⁸ Even those people at the ends of the earth fear your miracles.
    You are praised from where the sun rises to where it sets.

⁹ You take care of the land and water it;
    you make it very fertile.
The rivers of God are full of water.
    Grain grows because you make it grow.
¹⁰ You send rain to the plowed fields;
    you fill the rows with water.
You soften the ground with rain,
    and then you bless it with crops.
¹¹ You give the year a good harvest,
    and you load the wagons with many crops.
¹² The desert is covered with grass
    and the hills with happiness.
¹³ The pastures are full of flocks,
    and the valleys are covered with grain.
    Everything shouts and sings for joy.

² Elders, listen to this message.
    Listen to me, all you who live in the land.
Nothing like this has ever happened during your lifetime
    or during your ancestors’ lifetimes.
³ Tell your children about these things,
    let your children tell their children,
    and let your grandchildren tell their children.
⁴ What the cutting locusts have left,
    the swarming locusts have eaten;
what the swarming locusts have left,
    the hopping locusts have eaten,
and what the hopping locusts have left,
    the destroying locusts^[a] have eaten.

⁵ Drunks, wake up and cry!
    All you people who drink wine, cry!
Cry because your wine
    has been taken away from your mouths.
⁶ A powerful nation has come into my land
    with too many soldiers to count.
It has teeth like a lion,
    jaws like a female lion.
⁷ It has made my grapevine a waste
    and made my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped all the bark off my trees
    and left the branches white.

⁸ Cry as a young woman cries
    when the man she was going to marry has died.
⁹ There will be no more grain or drink offerings
    to offer in the Temple of the Lord.
Because of this, the priests,
    the servants of the Lord, are sad.
¹⁰ The fields are ruined;
    the ground is dried up.
The grain is destroyed,
    the new wine is dried up,
    and the olive oil runs out.
¹¹ Be sad, farmers.
    Cry loudly, you who grow grapes.
Cry for the wheat and the barley.
    Cry because the harvest of the field is lost.
¹² The vines have become dry,
    and the fig trees are dried up.
The pomegranate trees, the date palm trees, the apple trees—
    all the trees in the field have died.
And the happiness of the people has died, too.
¹³ Priests, put on your rough cloth and cry to show your sadness.
    Servants of the altar, cry out loud.
Servants of my God,
    keep your rough cloth on all night to show your sadness.
Cry because there will be no more grain or drink offerings
    to offer in the Temple of your God.
¹⁴ Call for a day when everyone fasts!
    Tell everyone to stop work!
Bring the elders
    and everyone who lives in the land
to the Temple of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.
¹⁵ What a terrible day it will be!
    The Lord’s day of judging is near,
when punishment will come
    like a destroying attack from the Almighty.

¹⁶ Our food is taken away
    while we watch.
Joy and happiness are gone
    from the Temple of our God.
¹⁷ Though we planted fig seeds,
    they lie dry and dead in the dirt.
The barns are empty and falling down.
    The storerooms for grain have been broken down,
    because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ The animals are groaning!
    The herds of cattle wander around confused,
because they have no grass to eat;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.
¹⁹ Lord, I am calling to you for help,
    because fire has burned up the open pastures,
    and flames have burned all the trees in the field.
²⁰ Wild animals also need your help.
    The streams of water have dried up,
    and fire has burned up the open pastures.