Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord:
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand!
And as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes,
Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The seeds rot under their clods:
The garners are laid desolate,
The barns are broken down;
For the corn is withered.
How do the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed,
Because they have no pasture;
Yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
O Lord, to thee do I cry:
For the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
And the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee:
For the water brooks are dried up,
And the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
ii
The Judgment Advancing
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in my holy mountain;
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble!
For the Day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations!
A fire devoureth before them;
And behind them a flame burneth:
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness!