They look like horses; they charge ahead like war horses.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you.

To you, O Lord, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields.

Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

(4:1) For look! In those days and at that time I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem.

Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation.

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for a holy war! Call out the warriors! Let all these fighting men approach and attack!

and they cast lots for my people. They traded a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.

They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. Each one proceeds on his course; they do not alter their path.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love – often relenting from calamitous punishment.

Gather the people; sanctify an assembly! Gather the elders; gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her private quarters.

I will remove the one from the north far from you. I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place. Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” Indeed, the Lord has accomplished great things.

Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them. I will repay you for what you have done!

Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, “Where is their God?”

Blow the trumpet in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!

Then the Lord became zealous for his land; he had compassion on his people.

I will avenge their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great!

What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!

Who knows? Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, and leave blessing in his wake – a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God!