Joel 1:1–20

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

An Invasion of Locusts

^2aHear this, ^byou elders;

give ear, ^ball inhabitants of the land!

^cHas such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

^3dTell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

⁴What ^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.

⁵Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and ⁱwail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of ^jthe sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶For ^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.

⁷It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my ^mfig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

⁸Lament like a virgin^{1 n}wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

^9oThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

^pThe priests mourn,

^pthe ministers of the Lord.

¹⁰The fields are destroyed,

^qthe ground mourns,

because ^rthe grain is destroyed,

^rthe wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

^11sBe ashamed,² O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

^tbecause the harvest of the field has perished.

¹²The vine dries up;

^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.

A Call to Repentance

^13wPut 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.

^14zConsecrate 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.

¹⁵Alas for the day!

^bFor the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty³ it comes.

¹⁶Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

^cjoy and gladness

from the house of our God?

^17dThe seed shrivels under the clods;⁴

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because ^ethe grain has dried up.

¹⁸How ^fthe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.⁵

¹⁹To you, ^gO Lord, I call.

^hFor fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

^hand flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the beasts of the field ⁱpant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

^hand fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.