Joel 1

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

A Plague of Locusts

²Hear this, ^byou 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 ^ehas left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust has left,

the young locust ^fhas eaten;

and what the young locust has left,

the destroying locust ^ghas eaten.

⁵Wake up, you drunkards, ^hand 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 olive oil fails. ^p

¹¹Be ashamed, you farmers, ^q

wail, you vinedressers, ^r

over the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished. ^s

¹²The grapevine is dried up, ^t

and the fig tree is withered;

the pomegranate, ^uthe date palm, ^vand the apple ^w—

all the trees of the orchard—have withered.

Indeed, human joy has dried up. ^x

¹³Dress in sackcloth and lament, ^yyou priests; ^z

wail, ^ayou ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth, ^b

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴Announce a sacred fast; ^c

proclaim an assembly!

Gather the elders ^d

and all the residents of the land

at the house of the Lord your God, ^e

and cry out to the Lord. ^f

The Day of the Lord

¹⁵Woe because of that day! ^g

For the Day of the Lord is near

and will come as devastation from the Almighty. ^h

¹⁶Hasn’t the food been cut off

before our eyes, ⁱ

joy and gladness ^j

from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. ^kl

The storehouses are in ruin,

and the granaries are broken down,

because the grain has withered away.

¹⁸How the animals groan! ^m

The herds of cattle wander in confusion

since they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

¹⁹I call to You, Lord, ⁿ

for fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness, ^o

and flames have devoured

all the trees of the countryside.

²⁰Even the wild animals cry out to ^pYou, ^q

for the river beds are dried up, ^r

and fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness.