Joel 1

1 Yahweh’s word 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, you elders, and listen, all you inhabitants of the land! Has this ever happened 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 your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, 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 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper 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 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you 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 on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs 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 stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches 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 Mourn like a virgin dressed in 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 Yahweh’s house. The priests, Yahweh’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 has dried up, and 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, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has 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 has dried up, and the fig tree withered— the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of 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 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.

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 elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry to Yahweh.

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 Yahweh is at hand, and it will 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 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes, 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 granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has 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 the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, 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 Yahweh, I cry to you, 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 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have 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.