That time will also be like the olive harvest, when a few olives are left. Two or three olives are left in the top branches. Four or five olives are left on full branches,” says the Lord, the God of Israel.
This is what will happen all over the earth and to all the nations. The earth will be like an olive tree after the harvest or like the few grapes left on a vine after harvest.
We hear songs from every part of the earth praising God, the Righteous One. But I said, “I am dying! I am dying! How terrible it will be for me! Traitors turn against people; with their dishonesty, they turn against people.”
That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant set on a hill above a rich valley. That city will be like the first fig of summer. Anyone who sees it quickly picks it and eats it.
Mother, I am sorry that you gave birth to me since I must accuse and criticize the whole land. I have not loaned or borrowed anything, but everyone curses me.
I hear a cry like a woman having a baby, distress like a woman having her first child. It is the sound of Jerusalem gasping for breath. She lifts her hands in prayer and says, “Oh! I am about to faint before my murderers!”
The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and discover these things. Search the public squares of the city. If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for the truth, I will forgive this city.
“When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert. Your ancestors were like finding the first figs on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they began worshiping an idol, and they became as hateful as the thing they worshiped.