Joel 1

1The word of the Lord that came^a to Joel son of Pethuel:

A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS

²Hear this,^b you elders;

listen, all you inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your days^c

or in the days of your ancestors?

³Tell your children about it,^d

and let your children tell their children,

and their children the next generation.

⁴What the devouring locust^e has left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust has left,

the young locust^f has eaten;

and what the young locust has left,

the destroying locust^g has eaten.

⁵Wake up, you drunkards,^h and weep;

wail, all you wine drinkers,

because of the sweet wine,

for it has been taken from your mouth.

⁶For a nation has invaded my land,ⁱ

powerful and without number;

its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.^j

⁷It has devastated my grapevine

and splintered my fig tree.

It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;

its branches have turned white.

⁸Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,^k

mourning for the husband of her youth.

⁹Grain and drink offerings have been cut off^l

from the house of the Lord;

the priests, who are ministers of the Lord, mourn.^m

¹⁰The fields are destroyed;ⁿ

the land grieves;

indeed, the grain is destroyed;

the new wine is dried up;^o

and the fresh oil fails.^p

¹¹Be ashamed, you farmers,^q

wail, you vinedressers,^A

over the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished.^r

¹²The grapevine is dried up,^s

and the fig tree is withered;

the pomegranate,^t the date palm,^u and the apple^v—

all the trees of the orchard—have withered.

Indeed, human joy has dried up.^w

¹³Dress in sackcloth and lament,^x you priests;^y

wail,^z you ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth,^aa

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴Announce a sacred fast;^ab

proclaim a solemn assembly!

Gather the elders^ac

and all the residents of the land

at the house of the Lord your God,^ad

and cry out to the Lord.^ae

THE DAY OF THE LORD

¹⁵Woe because of that day!^af

For the day of the Lord is near

and will come as devastation from the Almighty.^ag

¹⁶Hasn’t the food been cut off

before our eyes,^ah

joy and gladness^ai

from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seeds lie shriveled in their casings.^Aaj

The storehouses are in ruin,

and the granaries are broken down,

because the grain has withered away.

¹⁸How the animals groan!^ak

The herds of cattle wander in confusion

since they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep and goats suffer punishment.

¹⁹I call to you, Lord,^al

for fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness,^a

and flames have devoured

all the trees of the orchard.

²⁰Even the wild animals cry out to^B you,^b

for the river beds are dried up,^c

and fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness.