"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.

you would go to a pile of grain expecting to find twenty bushels, but there would be only ten. You would go to draw fifty gallons of wine from a vat, but find only twenty.

All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.

"You will plant plenty of seed, but reap only a small harvest, because the locusts will eat your crops.

Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will not have any olive oil, because the olives will drop off.

During David's reign there was a severe famine which lasted for three full years. So David consulted the LORD about it, and the LORD said, "Saul and his family are guilty of murder; he put the people of Gibeon to death."

He made rich soil become a salty wasteland because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

The grapevines growing on five acres of land will yield only five gallons of wine. Ten bushels of seed will produce only one bushel of grain."

Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods."

When they sow the wind, they will reap a storm! A field of grain that doesn't ripen can never produce any bread. But even if it did, foreigners would eat it up.

The fields are bare; the ground mourns because the grain is destroyed, the grapes are dried up, and the olive trees are withered.

The grapevines and fig trees have withered; all the fruit trees have wilted and died. The joy of the people is gone.

"I was the one who brought famine to all your cities, yet you did not come back to me.

Weak with thirst, the people of several cities went to a city where they hoped to find water, but there was not enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me.

You will eat, but not be satisfied---in fact you will still be hungry. You will carry things off, but you will not be able to save them; anything you do save I will destroy in war.

You will sow grain, but not harvest the crop. You will press oil from olives, but never get to use it. You will make wine, but never drink it.

Before that time no one could afford to hire either men or animals, and no one was safe from enemies. I turned people against one another.

You must honor me by what you do. If you will not listen to what I say, then I will bring a curse on you. I will put a curse on the things you receive for your support. In fact, I have already put a curse on them, because you do not take my command seriously.

A curse is on all of you because the whole nation is cheating me.

I will not let insects destroy your crops, and your grapevines will be loaded with grapes.

I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.

She answered, "By the living LORD your God I swear that I don't have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death."

At the height of their success all the weight of misery will crush them.

But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation."

And he added, "Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink.

They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins."

All their wealth will be destroyed in the flood of God's anger.

The LORD Almighty says that he will send this curse out, and it will enter the house of every thief and the house of everyone who tells lies under oath. It will remain in their houses and leave them in ruins."