If any of you dedicate part of your land to the LORD, the price shall be set according to the amount of seed it takes to sow it, at the rate of ten pieces of silver per bushel of barley.

"Everyone must use honest weights and measures:

"The ephah for dry measure is to be equal to the bath for liquid measure. The standard is the homer. The resulting measures are as follows: 1 homer = 10 ephahs = 10 baths

The seeds die in the dry earth. There is no grain to be stored, and so the empty granaries are in ruins.

"You hoped for large harvests, but they turned out to be small. And when you brought the harvest home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? Because my Temple lies in ruins while every one of you is busy working on your own house.

I have brought drought on the land---on its hills, grainfields, vineyards, and olive orchards---on every crop the ground produces, on people and animals, on everything you try to grow."