‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not hear them.
For this reason the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes, along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky; even the fish of the sea disappear.
Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord.
Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, ‘He cannot see what our end will be.’ ,
My heart cries out over Moab, whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah; they go up the Ascent of Luhith weeping; they raise a cry of destruction on the road to Horonaim.
For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.
‘At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel. He will save them from the Philistines because I have seen the affliction of my people, for their cry has come to me.’
The nations have heard of your dishonour, and your cries fill the earth, because warrior stumbles against warrior and together both of them have fallen.
The Lord determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain himself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve; together they waste away.
I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, fresh oil, and whatever the ground yields, on people and animals, and on all that your hands produce.’
Announce a sacred fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.