¹ How dark has the gold become! how changed the best gold! the stones of the holy place are dropping out at the top of every street.

² The valued sons of Zion, whose price was the best gold, are looked on as vessels of earth, the work of the hands of the potter!

³ Even the beasts of the waste land have full breasts, they give milk to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the waste land.

⁴ The tongue of the child at the breast is fixed to the roof of his mouth for need of drink: the young children are crying out for bread, and no man gives it to them.

⁵ Those who were used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets: those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust.

⁶ For the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without any hand falling on her.

⁷ Her holy ones were cleaner than snow, they were whiter than milk, their bodies were redder than corals, their form was as the sapphire:

⁸ Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.

⁹ Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of kind-hearted women have been boiling their children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹ The Lord has given full effect to his passion, he has let loose his burning wrath; he has made a fire in Zion, causing the destruction of its bases.

¹² To the kings of the earth and to all the people of the world it did not seem possible that the attackers and the haters would go into the doors of Jerusalem.

¹³ It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her.

¹⁴ They are wandering like blind men in the streets, they are made unclean with blood, so that their robes may not be touched by men.

¹⁵ Away! unclean! they were crying out to them, Away! away! let there be no touching: when they went away in flight and wandering, men said among the nations, There is no further resting-place for them.

¹⁶ The face of the Lord has sent them in all directions; he will no longer take care of them: they had no respect for the priests, they gave no honour to the old men.

¹⁷ Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help: we have been watching for a nation unable to give salvation.

¹⁸ They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered; for our end has come.

¹⁹ Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land.

²⁰ Our breath of life, he on whom the holy oil was put, was taken in their holes; of whom we said, Under his shade we will be living among the nations.

²¹ Have joy and be glad, O daughter of Edom, living in the land of Uz: the cup will be given to you in your turn, and you will be overcome with wine and your shame will be seen.

²² The punishment of your evil-doing is complete, O daughter of Zion; never again will he take you away as a prisoner: he will give you the reward of your evil-doing, O daughter of Edom; he will let your sin be uncovered.

¹ Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:

² A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

³ A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

⁴ The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run.

⁵ Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

⁶ At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

⁷ They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don't swerve off course.

⁸ Neither does one jostle another; they march everyone in his path, and they burst through the defenses, and don't break ranks.

⁹ They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹¹ Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

¹² "Yet even now," says Yahweh, "turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."

¹³ Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.

¹⁶ Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his room, and the bride out of her room.

¹⁷ Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, Yahweh, and don't give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

¹⁸ Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people.

¹⁹ Yahweh answered his people, "Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

²⁰ But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise." Surely he has done great things.

²¹ Land, don't be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things.

²² Don't be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

²³ "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴ The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.

²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of Yahweh, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.

²⁷ You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

²⁸ "It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.

²⁹ And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

³¹ The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

³² It will happen that whoever will call on the name of Yahweh shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.