59.  Joel again summons us to wailing, and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the presence of famine:  so far is he from allowing us to revel in the misfortunes of others:  and, after sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly, and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age,181    Joel i. 13, seq. we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth and ashes,182    Isa. lviii. 5. prostrated right humbly on the ground, because the field is wasted, and the meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, till we draw down mercy by our humiliation.

ΝΘʹ. Ἰωὴλ δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ θρῆνον διακελεύεται, καὶ κόπτεσθαι βούλεται τοὺς λειτουργοῦντας τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ, λιμοῦ πιέζοντος: τοσοῦτον ἀπέχει τρυφᾷν ἐπιτρέπειν ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων κακοῖς: καὶ πρὸς τῷ ἁγιάζειν νηστείαν, καὶ κηρύσσειν θεραπείαν, συναγαγεῖν πρεσβυτέρους, νήπια, ἡλικίας ἐλεεινὰς, ἔτι καὶ αὐτοὺς τὸ ἱερὸν καταλαβόντας ἐν σποδῷ καὶ σάκκοις, καὶ λίαν ταπεινῶς κατὰ γῆς ἐῤῥιμμένους, διότι τεταλαιπωρήκει πεδία τῇ ἀκαρπίᾳ, καὶ ἐξῆρτο ἐξ οἴκου Κυρίου σπονδὴ καὶ θυσία, ἕλκειν τῇ ταπεινώσει τὸν ἔλεον.