אִכָּר

Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,

With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.

Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.