Joel 1

1 The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.

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

2 Hear these [words], you elders, and listen all you that inhabit the land. Have such things happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

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?

3 Tell your children concerning them, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.

Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.

4 The leavings of the caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten.

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.

5 Awake, you drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all you that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness and removed are from your mouth.

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.

6 For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land, their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth those of a [lion's] whelp.

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.

7 He has ruined my vine, and utterly broken my fig-trees: he has utterly searched [my vine], and cast it down; he has peeled its branches.

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.

8 Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!

9 The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord: mourn, you priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.

The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the LORD’s house. The priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.

10 For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;

The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.

11 the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field.

Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm tree, and apple, and all trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men have have abolished joy.

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.

13 Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, you priests: mourn, you that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, you that minister to God: for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God.

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.

14 Sanctify a fast, proclaim a [solemn] service, gather the elders [and] all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,

Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD.

15 Alas, Alas, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as trouble upon trouble.

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

16 [Your] meat has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and gladness from out of the house of your God.

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

17 The heifers have started at their mangers, the treasures are abolished, the wine presses are broken down; for the corn is withered.

The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.

18 What shall we store up for ourselves? the herds of cattle have mourned, because they had no pasture; and the flocks of sheep have been utterly destroyed.

How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19 To you, O Lord, will I cry: for fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up all the trees of the field.

LORD, 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.

20 And the cattle of the field have looked up to you: for the fountains of waters have been dried up, and fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness.

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.