Joel 1

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

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

2 Listen to this, elders, and pay close attention, all inhabitants of the land. Did this ever happen in your days or in the days of your fathers?

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?

3 Talk this over with your sons, and your sons with their sons, and their sons with another generation.

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

4 The locust has eaten what the caterpillar has left, and the beetle has eaten what the locust has left, and the mildew has eaten what the beetle has left.

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.

5 Rouse yourselves, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you who delight in drinking wine; for it has been cut off from your mouth.

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

6 For a nation has ascended over my land: strong and without number. His teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and his molars are like that of a lion’s young.

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.

7 He has put my vineyard into desolation, and he has pulled off the bark of my fig tree. He has stripped it bare and cast it away; its branches have become white.

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

8 Lament like a betrothed virgin, wrapped in sackcloth at the loss of the husband of her youth.

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

9 Sacrifice and libation have perished from the house of the Lord; the priests who are ministers of the Lord have mourned.

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.

10 The region has been depopulated, the soil has mourned. For the wheat has been devastated, the wine has been disfigured, the oil has languished.

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

11 The farmers have been confounded, the vineyard workers have wailed over the crop and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

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

12 The vineyard is in ruin, and the fig tree has languished. The pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the fruit tree, and all the trees of the field have withered. For joy has been thrown into disorder before the sons of men.

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.

13 Priests, gird yourselves and lament. Ministers of the altars, wail. Enter, ministers of my God, lie in sackcloth. For sacrifice and libation have passed away from the house of your God.

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.

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

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:

15 “Ah, ah, ah, the day!” For the day of the Lord is near, and it will arrive, like a devastation, before the powerful.

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

16 Has not your nourishment perished from before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

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

17 The mules have rotted in their own manure, the barns have been demolished, the wine cellars have been destroyed, because the grain has been ruined.

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

18 Why have the animals groaned, the herds of cattle bellowed? because there is no pasture for them. Yes, and even the flocks of sheep have been lost.

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

19 To you, O Lord, I will cry out, because fire has devoured the beauty of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the countryside.

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.

20 Yes, and even the beasts of the field have gazed up at you, like the dry ground thirsting for rain, because the fountains of waters have dried up, and fire has devoured the beauty of the wilderness.

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.