(8:23) ¹  I wish that my head were a well full of water ²  and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people ³  who have been killed.

And I cried out, ¹  “We are doomed! ²  Our wound is severe! We once thought, ‘This is only an illness. And we will be able to bear it!’ ³ 

The people I call my own ¹  have turned on me like a lion ²  in the forest. They have roared defiantly ³  at me. So I will treat them as though I hate them. ⁴ 

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

The Lord cried out, ¹  “Who in the world ²  will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will grieve over you? Who will stop long enough ³  to inquire about how you are doing? ⁴ 

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

The Lord says to her, ¹  “Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears! ²  For your heartfelt repentance ³  will be rewarded. Your children will return from the land of the enemy. I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious ¹  things which you still do not know about.’

Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. ¹  Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!’ ² 

On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning. For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar. I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  has solemnly sworn, ²  ‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. ³  They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

Yes, but the time will certainly come,” ¹  says the Lord, ²  “when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.

ג (Gimel) Even the jackals ¹  nurse their young at their breast, ²  but my people ³  are cruel, like ostriches ⁴  in the desert.

Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai. It called out, “Gabriel, ¹  enable this person to understand the vision.”

All of them are blazing like an oven; they devour their rulers. All of their kings fall – and none of them call on me!

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 

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

Blow the trumpet ¹  in Zion; sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear, for the day of the Lord is about to come. Indeed, ²  it is near! ³ 

Amos ¹  said: “The Lord comes roaring ²  out of Zion; from Jerusalem ³  he comes bellowing! ⁴  The shepherds’ pastures wilt; ⁵  the summit of Carmel ⁶  withers.” ⁷ 

When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹  How can Jacob survive? ²  He is too weak!” ³