Study Desk

It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree a stump. It has stripped them bare and hurled them away; Their branches have become white.

Wail like a virgin clothed with sackcloth For the groom of her youth.

Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.

Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Indeed, it is near,

A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.

A fire consumes before them, And behind them a flame devours. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them.

With a noise as of chariots They leap about on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty people drawn up for battle.

They storm the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter through the windows like a thief.

Who knows, He might turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Resulting in a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God.

Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,

Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare Your people, LORD, And do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, With the nations jeering at them. Why should those among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'"

The LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a disgrace among the nations.

"But I will remove the northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a dry and desolate land, Its advance guard into the eastern sea, And its rear guard into the western sea. And its stench will ascend and its odor of decay will come up, Because it has done great things."

"They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a prostitute, And sold a girl for wine so that they may drink.

"I will also sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the LORD has spoken.

Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak man say, "I am a warrior."

The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge for His people, And a stronghold for the sons of Israel.

And on that day The mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Shittim.

Egypt will become a wasteland, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

"So I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah, And it will consume her citadels Amid war cries on the day of battle, And amid a storm on the day of tempest.