Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

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!

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 

(4:1) ¹  For look! In those ²  days and at that time I will return the exiles ³  to Judah and Jerusalem. ⁴ 

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.

The Lord responded ¹  to his people, “Look! I am about to restore your grain ²  as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. ³  I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

You will have plenty to eat, and your hunger will be fully satisfied; ¹  you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has acted wondrously in your behalf. My people will never again be put to shame.

Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! ¹  There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! ² 

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,

You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God; there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.

Beat your plowshares ¹  into swords, and your pruning hooks ²  into spears! ³  Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ ⁴ 

“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, ¹  not just your garments!”

They do not jostle one another; ¹  each of them marches straight ahead. ²  They burst through ³  the city defenses ⁴  and do not break ranks.

Tell your children ¹  about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. ² 

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 

They ¹  have destroyed our ²  vines; ³  they have turned our ⁴  fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark ⁵  and thrown them aside; the ⁶  twigs are stripped bare. ⁷ 

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ² 

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

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