Joel 1:1–12
1 The word of the Lord that came to aJoel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
bHas anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 cTell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4 dWhat the chewing 1locust left, the eswarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you fdrunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
gFor it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For ha nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
iHis teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a 2fierce lion.
7 He has jlaid waste My vine,
And 3ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8 kLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For lthe husband of her youth.
9 mThe grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests nmourn, who minister to the Lord.
oThe land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
pThe new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
11 qBe ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 rThe vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely sjoy has withered away from the sons of men.