26. Grapes will ripen, but there will be no one left to make wine. There will be desolation everywhere,
27. and a person will long to see the face of another human being or even to hear another person's voice.
28. Only ten will be left out of a whole city, and in the countryside, only two, who have hidden in the forest or in caves.
29. When an olive grove is harvested, three or four olives may be left on each tree.
30. When grapes in a vineyard are picked, a few bunches may be left even by those who look carefully.
31. That is how it will be in those days. Three or four will be missed by the soldiers who search through the houses to kill everyone.
32. The land will be left empty; the fields will be overgrown with briars; the roads and paths will be covered with weeds and thorns because there will be no sheep to graze along them.
33. Young women will be in mourning because there is no one to marry them; wives will be in mourning because they have lost their husbands; girls will be in mourning because there is no one to help them.
34. All the young men will be killed in the war, and all the married men will die in the famine.
35. Now listen to my message, you people who serve the Lord.
36. It is the Lord's message, so receive it and believe what he says.
37. The disasters are approaching rapidly, and they will not be delayed.
38. A woman in the ninth month of pregnancy may suffer labour pains for several hours, but when the time comes for the baby to be born, there is no longer any delay.
39. In the same way, the disasters that are coming on the earth will not be delayed, and the world will groan when it is caught in its labour pains.
40. Listen to my message, my people, and get ready for the battle. When the disasters come, you must live as people whose home is not in this world.
41-42. Merchants must not expect to make a profit from what they sell; they must be ready to run for their lives. Their customers must be expected to lose whatever they buy. Whoever builds a house should not plan to live in it.
43. Farmers should not expect to harvest their crops or pick their grapes.