“When there is scarcity of food in the land; when there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, grasshoppers; when their enemy distresses them in the land of their cities; any plague, any sickness,
“They have sown wheat but reaped thorns, they have exhausted themselves – they do not profit. And they shall be ashamed of your harvest because of the burning displeasure of יהוה.”
What the gnawing locust left the swarming locust has eaten, and what the swarming locust left the crawling locust has eaten, and what the crawling locust left the consuming locust has eaten.
“Then I shall repay you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
“I have smitten you with blight and with mildew. The creeping locust devoured your many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees. But you did not turn back to Me,” declares יהוה.
“You have sown much, but brought in little; eat, but do not have enough; drink, but you are not filled with drink; clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
“When you looked for much, then see, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I would blow on it. Why?” declares יהוה of hosts. “Because of My House which lies in ruins, while each of you runs to his own house.