There will be no joy and singing in Carmel. {\cf2\super [171]} \par I will end the happiness at harvest time.\par The grapes are ready to become wine.\par But they will all be wasted.\par
You women feel safe now, but after one year you will be troubled. \{Why?\} Because you will not gather grapes next year—there will be no grapes to gather.
Cry for the land of my people. Cry because only thorns and weeds will grow there. Cry for the city and for all the houses that were once filled with joy.
If they look around them at their land, then they will see only trouble and depressing darkness—the dark sadness of people forced to leave their country. And the people that are trapped in that darkness will not be able to free themselves.
“The nation of Judah cries for people\par that have died.\par The people in the cities of Judah\par grow weaker and weaker.\par Those people lie on the ground.\par People in Jerusalem cry to God for help.\par
The nations will hear you crying.\par Your cries will be heard all over the earth.\par One ‘brave soldier’ will run into another\par ‘brave soldier.’\par And both ‘brave soldiers’\par will fall down together.”\par
Joy and happiness are gone\par from the large vineyards {\cf2\super [386]} of Moab.\par I stopped the flow of wine\par from the winepresses. {\cf2\super [387]} \par There is no singing and dancing\par from people walking on the grapes\par to make wine.\par There are no shouts of joy.\par
They never call to me from their hearts.\par Yes, they cry on their beds.\par And they cut themselves\par when they ask for grain and\par new wine.\par But \{in their hearts,\} they have turned away\par from me.\par
The vines have become dry.\par And the fig tree is dying.\par All the trees in the field—the pomegranate,\par the palm, and the apple—have withered.\par And happiness among the people is dead.\par
But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life. But all the bad things happened to Lazarus. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering.