1:3 Tell your children 1 about it,
have your children tell their children,
and their children the following generation. 2
1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, 3
what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed,
and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! 4
1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, 5 and weep!
Wail, all you wine drinkers, 6
because the sweet wine 7 has been taken away 8 from you. 9
1:6 For a nation 10 has invaded 11 our 12 land.
There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. 13
Their teeth are like those 14 of a lion;
they tear apart their prey like a lioness. 15
1:7 They 16 have destroyed our 17 vines; 18
they have turned our 19 fig trees into mere splinters.
They have completely stripped off the bark 20 and thrown them aside;
the 21 twigs are stripped bare. 22
1:8 Wail 23 like a young virgin 24 clothed in sackcloth,
lamenting the death of 25 her husband-to-be. 26
1:9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple 27 of the Lord anymore. 28
So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.
1:10 The crops of the fields 29 have been destroyed. 30
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1:11 Be distressed, 31 farmers;
wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.
For the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine has dried up;
the fig tree languishes –
the pomegranate, date, and apple 32 as well.
In fact, 33 all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, the joy of the people 34 has dried up!
1:13 Get dressed 35 and lament, you priests!
Wail, you who minister at the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,
because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple of your God anymore. 36
1:14 Announce a holy fast; 37
proclaim a sacred assembly.
Gather the elders and 38 all the inhabitants of the land
to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
1:15 How awful that day will be! 39
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. 40
1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! 41
There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! 42
1:17 The grains of seed 43 have shriveled beneath their shovels. 44
Storehouses have been decimated
and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! 45
The herds of livestock wander around in confusion 46
because they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, 47
for fire 48 has burned up 49 the grassy pastures, 50
flames have razed 51 all the trees in the fields.
1:20 Even the wild animals 52 cry out to you; 53
for the river beds 54 have dried up;
fire has destroyed 55 the grassy pastures. 56