Joel 1:1–2:11
The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
give ear, ball inhabitants of the land!
cHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 dTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What ethe cutting locust left,
fthe swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
gthe hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
hthe destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and iwail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of jthe sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For ka nation has come up against my land,
kpowerful and beyond number;
lits teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
and splintered my mfig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin1 nwearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 oThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
pThe priests mourn,
pthe ministers of the Lord.
qthe ground mourns,
because rthe grain is destroyed,
rthe wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 sBe ashamed,2 O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
tbecause the harvest of the field has perished.
uthe fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and vgladness dries up
from the children of man.
13 wPut on sackcloth and lament, pO priests;
xwail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, wpass the night in sackcloth,
pO ministers of my God!
yBecause grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 zConsecrate a fast;
zcall a solemn assembly.
Gather athe elders
and aall the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
bFor the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty3 it comes.
before our eyes,
cjoy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 dThe seed shrivels under the clods;4
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because ethe grain has dried up.
18 How fthe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.5
19 To you, gO Lord, I call.
hFor fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
hand flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field ipant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
hand fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
sound an alarm on kmy holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for lthe day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 ma day of darkness and gloom,
ma day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
na great and powerful people;
otheir like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 pFire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like qthe garden of Eden before them,
but rbehind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 sTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 tAs with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ua flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
nlike a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
vall faces grow pale.
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
weach marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 xThey leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
ythey climb up into the houses,
ythey enter through the windows zlike a thief.
10 aThe earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
bThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 cThe Lord utters his voice
before dhis army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
ehe who executes his word is powerful.
fFor the day of the Lord is ggreat and very awesome;
hwho can endure it?