Joel 1

1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

[I am] Joel, the son of Pethuel. [This is] a message that Yahweh gave to me.

2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

You leaders [of Israel], and everyone else who lives in this country, listen [to this message]! Nothing [RHQ] like this has ever happened during the time that we have lived or the time when our ancestors lived.

3 Tell ye your sons of it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons another generation.

Tell your children about it, and tell your children to tell it to their children, and tell your grandchildren to tell it to their children.

4 That which the palmer-worm has left the locust has eaten, and that which the locust has left the canker-worm has eaten, and that which the canker-worm has left the caterpillar has eaten.

[I am talking about] the locusts that have eaten our crops. The first swarm of locusts came and cut [many of the leaves of the crops]; then another swarm came and ate [the rest of the leaves], then another swarm came hopping along, and finally another swarm came and they destroyed [everything else].

5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

You people who are drunk, wake up! Wake up and wail loudly, because all the grapes are ruined, and so there will be no new wine [MTY]!

6 For a nation has come up upon my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw-teeth of a lioness.

[Huge swarms of] locusts have entered our country. [They are like] [MET] a powerful army [that has very many soldiers], [with the result that] no one can count them. The locusts have teeth that are [as sharp as] the teeth of lions [DOU]!

7 He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. He has made it clean bare, and cast it away. The branches of it are made white.

They have destroyed our grapevines and our fig trees [by] stripping off [and eating all] the bark, with the result that the branches are white [and (bare/have no leaves on them)].

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Cry like [SIM] a young woman cries when the young man to whom she was (engaged/promised to marry) has died.

9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah. The priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn.

There is no grain or wine for us to offer [as sacrifices] at the temple, [so] the priests who serve Yahweh are mourning/weeping.

10 The field is laid waste; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.

[The crops in] the fields have been ruined; [it is as though] [PRS] the ground is mourning. The grain has been destroyed, there are no [grapes to make] wine, and there is no [more olive] oil.

11 Be confounded, O ye husbandmen. Wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field is perished.

You farmers, grieve! You who take care of grapevines, wail, because the grain has been destroyed; there is no wheat or barley growing.

12 The vine is withered, and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. For joy has withered away from the sons of men.

The grapevines and the fig trees have withered, and the pomegranate [trees] and palm [trees] and apricot [trees] have also dried up. The people are no longer joyful.

13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests. Wail, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

You priests, put on [rough] sack clothes and wail. You who serve God [by offering sacrifices] on the altar, wear those rough sack clothes all night [to show that you are mourning], because there is no grain or wine to be offered at the temple of your God.

14 Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah.

Tell the people that they should (fast/abstain from eating food). Tell the leaders and the other people to gather at the temple and to cry [out] to Yahweh [there].

15 Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is at hand, and it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

Terrible things are happening to us! It will soon be the time when Yahweh, [who is] the Almighty God, [will really punish us], [when he] will cause us to experience more disasters.

16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Our crops are already gone, and no [one is] rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.

17 The seeds rot under their clods. The garners are laid desolate. The barns are broken down. For the grain is withered.

[When we plant] seeds, [they do not grow]; they dry up in the ground, so there are no crops to harvest. Our barns/storehouses are empty; there is no grain [to store in them].

18 How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat, and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.

19 O Jehovah, to thee do I cry. For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.

Yahweh, I cry [out] to you, because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].

20 Yea, the beasts of the field pant to thee, for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

[It is as though] even the wild animals cry [out] to you because all the streams have dried up. The rivers and streams are all dry, and the grass in the pastures is all parched.