Joel 1

The Devastation by Locusts

1The 1word of the Lord that came to 2Joel, the son of Pethuel:23Hear this, you 4elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. 5Has anything like this happened in your days, Or in your fathers’ days?36Tell your sons about it, And have your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation.

4What the 7gnawing locust has left, the 8swarming locust has eaten; And what the 9swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the 10stripping locust has eaten.5Awake, 11you heavy drinkers, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, Because of the sweet wine, For it has been 12eliminated from your mouth.6For a 13nation has 14invaded my land, Mighty and without number; 15Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the jaws of a lioness.7It has 16made my vine a waste And my fig tree a stump. It has stripped them bare and hurled them away; Their branches have become white.

817Wail like a virgin 18clothed with sackcloth For the groom of her youth.9The 19grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off From the house of the Lord. The 20priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord.10The field is 21ruined, 22The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine has dried up, Fresh oil has 23failed.1124Be ashamed, you farm workers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the 25harvest of the field is destroyed.12The 26vine has dried up And the fig tree has withered; The 27pomegranate, the 28palm also, and the 29apple tree, All the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, 30joy has dried up From the sons of mankind.

1331Put on sackcloth And mourn, you priests; 32Wail, you ministers of the altar! Come, 33spend the night in sackcloth, You ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Have been withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

1434Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a 35solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the Lord your God, And 36cry out to the Lord.1537Woe for the day! For the 38day of the Lord is near, And it will come as 39destruction from the 40Almighty.16Has 41food not been cut off before our eyes, and Joy and 42rejoicing from the house of our God?17The 4344seeds have dried up under their shovels; The storehouses have become desolate, The grain silos are ruined, Because the grain has dried up.18How 45the animals have groaned! The herds of cattle have wandered aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep have 46suffered.1947To You, Lord, I cry out; For 48fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.20Even the animals of the field 4950pant for You; For the 51stream beds of water are dried up, And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.