Joel 1

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

The word of the Lord which 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?

Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever been 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.

Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to 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 worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.

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.

Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.

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 over my land, strong and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the back teeth of a great lion.

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.

By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches are made white.

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

Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.

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 have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's servants, are sorrowing.

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

The fields are wasted, the land has become dry; for the grain is wasted, the new wine is kept back, the oil is poor.

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

The farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.

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 become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone 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 haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back from the house of your God.

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,

Let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting, let the old men, even all the people of the land, come together to the house of the Lord your God, crying out 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.

Sorrow for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Ruler of all it will come.

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

Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight 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 grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.

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.

What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen.

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.

O Lord, my cry goes up to you: for fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste, and all the trees of the field are burned with its flame.

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.

The beasts of the field are turning to you with desire: for the water-streams are dry and fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste.