Joel 1

1 The Lord’s message that came to Joel, son of Pethuel.

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, elders, pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors?

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

3 Recount it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the generation that follows.

Tell all of you your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

4 That which the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten, that which the swarming locust has left, the hopping locust has eaten, and that which the hopping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

That which the palmerworm has left has the locust eaten; and that which the locust has left has the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left has the caterpillar eaten.

5 Awake, drunkards, and weep, and wail, all drinkers of wine; the new wine is cut off from your mouth.

Awake, all of you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation has come up on my land, powerful, and numberless; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its jaw-teeth are like those of a lioness.

For a nation has come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the cheek teeth of a great lion.

7 It has laid waste my vines, and barked my fig tree; it has peeled and cast it away, bleached are the branches.

He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

8 Wail as a bride, clad in sack-cloth, for the husband of her youth.

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

9 Cut off are the cereal and drink-offerings from the house of the Lord; in mourning are the priests, who minister at the Lord’s altar.

The food offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

10 The fields are blasted, the land is in mourning, for ruined is the grain, the new wine fails and the oil is dried up.

The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.

11 Be dismayed, farmers; wail, vine-dressers. For the wheat and the barley; for the harvest is lost from the fields.

Be all of you ashamed, O all of you husbandmen; wail, O all of you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

12 The vine fails to bear fruit, and the fig tree is drooping; the pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up. The people’s joy withers.

The vine is dried up, 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: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

13 Put on sackcloth, and beat your breasts, priests; wail, ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sack-cloth, ministers of God; for cereal-offering and drink-offering are cut off from the house of your God.

Gird yourselves, and lament, all of you priests: wail, all of you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, all of you ministers of my God: for the food offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.

14 Sanctify a fast, summon an assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, cry to the Lord:

Sanctify all of you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,

15 Alas for the day! Near at hand is the day of the Lord, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

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

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

17 The grains shrivel under their hoes, the storehouses are desolate, the barns broken down, for the grain is withered.

The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

18 How the herds of cattle bellow in distress, for they have no pasture! The flocks of sheep are forlorn.

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

19 To you, the Lord, I cry. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has scorched all the trees of the field.

O LORD, to you will I cry: for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.

20 The wild animals also look up to you longingly, for the water-courses are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

The beasts of the field cry also unto you: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.