² Elders, listen to this message.
    ·Listen to [Hear] me, all you who live in the land.
·Nothing like this has [^LHas anything like this…?] ever happened ·during your lifetime [^Lin your days]
    or during your ·ancestors’ [fathers’] ·lifetimes [^Ldays].
³ Tell your children about these things,
    let your children tell their children,
    and let ·your grandchildren [^Ltheir children] tell ·their children [the next generation].
⁴ What the ·cutting [chewing; or swarming] locusts have left,
    the ·swarming [or great] locusts have eaten;
what the ·swarming [or great] locusts have left,
    the ·hopping [or crawling; or young] locusts have eaten,
and what the ·hopping [or crawling; or young] locusts have left,
    the ·destroying [consuming] locusts have eaten [^Cthese Hebrew terms could mean different species, different stages of development, or different destructive actions; they symbolize God’s judgment against Israel through foreign invaders].

⁵ Drunks, wake up and ·cry [weep]!
    All you ·people who drink wine [wine-drinkers], ·cry [wail]!
Cry because your ·wine [sweet/new wine]
    has been ·taken away [snatched; ^Lcut off] from your mouths.
⁶ A ·powerful [mighty] nation has ·come into [invaded; come up against] my land
    ·with too many soldiers to count [^Lwithout number].
It has teeth like a lion,
    ·jaws [fangs] like a ·female lion [lioness].
⁷ It has made my grapevine a waste
    and made my fig tree ·a stump [or splintered].
It has ·stripped all [^Lstripped and thrown away] the bark off my trees
    and left the branches white.

⁸ ·Cry [Lament; Wail] as a young woman ·cries [^Lclothed in sackcloth]
    ·when the man she was going to marry has died [^Lfor the husband/or betrothed of her youth].
⁹ ·There will be no more grain or drink offerings
    to offer in [^LThe grain/gift/tribute (Lev. 2:1) and drink offerings are cut off from] the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord.
Because of this, the priests,
    the servants of the Lord, are ·sad [in mourning].
¹⁰ The fields are ·ruined [destroyed];
    the ground ·is dried up [or mourns].
·The [^L…because the] grain is destroyed,
    the new wine is dried up,
    and the olive oil ·runs out [fails].
¹¹ Be ·sad [in despair; or ashamed; embarrassed], farmers.
    ·Cry loudly [Wail], you who grow grapes.
Cry for the wheat and the barley.
    Cry because the harvest of the field is ·lost [ruined; destroyed].
¹² The vines have ·become dry [dried up],
    and the fig trees ·are dried up [have withered/languish].
The pomegranate trees, the date palm trees, the apple trees—
    all the trees in the field ·have died [are dried up].
And the ·happiness [joy; gladness] of the ·people [^Lsons/children of man/humanity] has died, too.
¹³ Priests, put on your ·rough cloth [sackcloth] and ·cry to show your sadness [mourn; lament].
    ·Servants [Ministers] of the altar, ·cry out loud [wail].
Servants of my God,
    ·keep your rough cloth on all night to show your sadness [spend the night in sackcloth].
Cry because there will be no more grain [^Lgift; tribute; Lev. 2:1] or drink offerings
    to offer in the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of your God.
¹⁴ ·Call for [Declare; Appoint; Consecrate] a ·day when everyone fasts [fast]!
    ·Tell everyone to stop work [^LCall a sacred assembly]!
·Bring [Assemble] the elders
    and everyone who lives in the land
to the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.
¹⁵ ·What a terrible day it will be [^LAh, for the day]!
    The ·Lord’s day of judging [^Lday of the Lord] is near [2:1, 11, 31; Is. 13:6, 9; Jer. 46:10],
when ·punishment [destruction] will come
    like a destroying attack from the Almighty [^C“destroying” (shod) and “Almighty” (shaddai) are related words in Hebrew].

¹⁶ Our food is ·taken away [^Lcut off]
    ·while we watch [^Lin front of our eyes].
Joy and ·happiness [gladness] are gone
    from the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of our God.
¹⁷ ·Though we planted fig seeds,
    they lie dry and dead in the dirt [^LThe seed shrivels under the clods/or shovels].
The ·barns [storehouses] are ·empty and falling down [desolate].
    The ·storerooms for grain [granaries] have been broken down,
    because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ The animals are groaning!
    The herds of cattle ·wander around confused [mill about; are restless/distraught],
because they have no ·grass to eat [pasture];
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.
¹⁹ Lord, I am calling to you for help,
    because fire has ·burned up [devoured] the ·open [or wilderness] pastures,
    and flames have burned all the trees in the field.
²⁰ Wild animals ·also [even] ·need your help [cry out to you; long/pant for you].
    The ·streams of water [water brooks; riverbeds] have dried up,
and fire has ·burned up [devoured] the ·open [or wilderness] pastures.