A Call to Repentance

13  wPut on sackcloth and lament, pO priests;

xwail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, wpass the night in sackcloth,

pO ministers of my God!

yBecause grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

14  zConsecrate a fast;

zcall a solemn assembly.

Gather athe elders

and aall the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15  Alas for the day!

bFor the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty3 it comes.

16  Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

cjoy and gladness

from the house of our God?

17  dThe seed shrivels under the clods;4

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because ethe grain has dried up.

18  How fthe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.5

19  To you, gO Lord, I call.

hFor fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

hand flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20  Even the beasts of the field ipant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

hand fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.