in the morning it glistens ¹  and sprouts up; at evening time it withers ²  and dries up.

When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. ¹ 

“I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ¹  I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field ²  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

All the stars in the sky will fade away, ¹  the sky will roll up like a scroll; all its stars will wither, like a leaf withers and falls from a vine or a fig withers and falls from a tree. ² 

ח (Khet) Now their appearance ¹  is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

Ephraim will be struck down ¹  – their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring.

The grains of seed ¹  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ²  Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

Then ¹  seven heads of grain, thin and burned by the east wind, were sprouting up after them.

For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. ¹  They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. ²  So the land is dried up ³  because it is under his curse. ⁴  The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

If anyone does not remain ¹  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ²  and are burned up. ³ 

For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither, like an orchard ¹  that is unwatered.

Surely they will be totally consumed ¹  like ²  entangled thorn bushes, ³  like the drink of drunkards, ⁴  like very ⁵  dry stubble.

When its branches get brittle, ¹  they break; women come and use them for kindling. ²  For these people lack understanding, ³  therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them; the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

How long must the land be parched ¹  and the grass in every field be withered? How long ²  must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ³  For these people boast, “God ⁴  will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ 

Have mercy on me, ¹  Lord, for I am frail! Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ² 

When the king heard what the prophet ¹  cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand ²  and ordered, ³  “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up ⁴  and he could not pull it back.

For the fields of Heshbon are dried up, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines, which reach Jazer and spread to the desert; their shoots spread out and cross the sea.

The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this ¹  to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” ² 

The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent ¹  seven years of famine.