Citizens of Zion, ¹  rejoice! Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ²  For he has given to you the early rains ³  as vindication. He has sent ⁴  to you the rains – both the early and the late rains ⁵  as formerly.

Who knows? Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹  and leave blessing in his wake ²  – a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ³ 

I will make up for the years ¹  that the ‘arbeh-locust ²  consumed your crops ³  – the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust – my great army ⁴  that I sent against you.

Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ¹  Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ²  I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ³ 

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹  For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ²  there will be those who survive, ³  just as the Lord has promised; the remnant ⁴  will be those whom the Lord will call. ⁵ 

Like fire they devour everything in their path; ¹  a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden ²  before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness – for nothing escapes them! ³ 

It will be ¹  a day of dreadful darkness, ²  a day of foreboding storm clouds, ³  like blackness ⁴  spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army ⁵  – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁶ 

Wail ¹  like a young virgin ²  clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of ³  her husband-to-be. ⁴ 

I will avenge ¹  their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

The voice of the Lord thunders ¹  as he leads his army. ²  Indeed, his warriors ³  are innumerable; ⁴  Surely his command is carried out! ⁵  Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ⁶  and very terrifying – who can survive ⁷  it?

Do not fear, my land! Rejoice and be glad, because the Lord has accomplished great things!

But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure ¹  from one generation to the next.

The crops of the fields ¹  have been destroyed. ²  The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes.

Wake up, you drunkards, ¹  and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, ²  because the sweet wine ³  has been taken away ⁴  from you. ⁵ 

I will sell your sons and daughters to ¹  the people of Judah. ²  They will sell them to the Sabeans, ³  a nation far away. Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. ² 

Blow the trumpet ¹  in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!

Egypt will be desolate and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹  in whose land they shed innocent blood.

Then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ¹  I will enter into judgment ²  against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, ³  whom they scattered among the nations. They partitioned my land,