Through My Bible Yr 2 – February 10

² Hear this, you elders.
    Listen, all of you who live in the land.
    Has anything like this ever happened in your days
    or in the days of your fathers?
³ Tell it to your children,
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.
⁴         What the grasshoppers have left, the swarming locusts have eaten.
        What the swarming locusts have left, the young locusts have eaten.
        What the young locusts have left, the mature locusts have eaten. ^[1]
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, ^[2] all you wine drinkers,
    because of the sweet wine ^[3] that has been snatched from your mouth.
⁶         A nation has come up into my land, powerful and without number.
        It has teeth like a lion and fangs like a lioness.
⁷         It has devastated my vines and shredded my fig trees.
        It has completely stripped off their bark and thrown it aside,
        so that their branches are bare and white.
⁸ Grieve like a virgin dressed in sackcloth,
    who grieves for the husband ^[4] of her youth.
⁹         Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord.
        The priests are in mourning,
        those who minister in the presence of the Lord.
¹⁰         The fields are devastated. The soil mourns.
        The grain is devastated.
        The new wine has run dry. The olive oil runs out.
¹¹ Hang your heads, you farmers.
    Wail, you vine growers, for the wheat and for the barley,
    because the grain harvest has died in the field.
¹²         The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered.
        The pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple tree—
        all the trees in the countryside have dried up,
        and joy has dried up for all the people.
¹³ Put on sackcloth, you priests, and lament.
    Wail, you who minister in front of the altar.
    Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God,
    because the grain offerings and drink offerings
    are being held back from the house of your God.

¹⁴ Set aside a day of fasting. Call a solemn convocation.
    Summon the elders and everyone who lives in the land
    to come to the house of the Lord your God.
    Cry out to the Lord!

¹⁵ How terrible that day will be!
    Yes, the Day of the Lord is near.
    It will come like destruction from the Almighty. ^[5]
16         Hasn’t the food been cut off right before our eyes?
        Happiness and celebration are cut off from the house of our God.
¹⁷         The planted seed is dried up under the clods of earth. ^[6]
        The storehouses are in ruins.
        The granaries have been broken down, because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸         Listen to how the cattle bellow!
        The herds of cattle are milling around in confusion, because they have no pasture.
        Even the flocks of sheep are suffering punishment.

¹⁹ To you, O Lord, I call,
    because fire has consumed the grazing lands in the wilderness,^[7]
    and flames have burned up all the trees in the countryside.
²⁰ Even the animals in the countryside pant for you.
    The streams of water have dried up,
    and fire has consumed the grazing lands in the wilderness.

¹ Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.
Sound the alarm on my holy mountain.
    Let all who live in the land tremble with fear,
    for the Day of the Lord is coming.
    It is close at hand—
²         a day of darkness and gloom,
        a day of clouds and frightening darkness.

    Like dawn ^[8] spreading across the mountains,
        a large and mighty people is coming.
    There has been nothing like it from ancient times,
    nor will there ever be again for generations to come.
³ In front of them, fire devours.
    Behind them, a flame blazes.
    In front of them, the land is like the Garden of Eden.
    Behind them, it is a desolate wilderness.
    There is no escaping them.
⁴ They look like horses.
    They charge like cavalry.
⁵ With a noise like chariots
        they bounce over the mountaintops,
        like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
        like a powerful army lined up for battle.
⁶ At the sight of them, peoples are in anguish.
    Every face becomes flushed. ^[9]
7 They charge like strong warriors.
    They climb over walls like soldiers.
    They all march in formation.
    They do not turn aside from their path.
⁸ They do not collide with each other.
    Each marches straight ahead in his position.
    They pierce through defenses without hesitating. ^[10]
9 They rush into the city.
    They run along the city wall.
    They climb into the houses.
    Like thieves they enter through the windows.
¹⁰ In front of them the earth quakes.
    The sky shudders.
    The sun and moon become dark,
    and the stars stop shining.

¹¹ The Lord shouts at the head of his army.
    His forces are very numerous,
    and those who obey his command are powerful.
    The Day of the Lord is great. It is terrifying.
    Who can endure it?

¹² Even now, declares the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and grief.
¹³ Tear your heart and not your clothing.
    Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and abounding in mercy,
    and he relents from sending disaster.
¹⁴ Who knows?
    He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—
    grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
¹⁵ Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.
    Set aside a day for fasting.
    Call a solemn convocation.
¹⁶ Gather the people.
    Consecrate the assembly.
    Bring together the elders.
    Gather the children, even those nursing at the breast.
    Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
    weep between the temple porch and the altar.
    Let them say:
        Have compassion on your people, O Lord.
        Do not subject the inheritance you have given us to the scorn of the nations.
        Do not make us notorious among the nations as an object of ridicule. ^[11]
        Why should they say among the peoples,
        “Where is their God?”