Joel 1:1–2:11

*The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2  aHear this, bye old men,

And give ear, ball ye inhabitants of the land.

bbHath this been in your days,

Or even in the days of your fathers?

3  cTell ye your children of it,

And let your children tell their children,

And their children another generation.

4  †That which dthe palmerworm hath left hath ethe locust eaten;

And that which ethe locust hath left hath fthe cankerworm eaten;

And that which fthe cankerworm hath left hath gthe caterpiller eaten.

5  Awake, ye drunkards, and weep;

And hhowl, all ye drinkers of wine,

Because of ithe new wine; kfor it is cut off from your mouth.

6  For la nation is come up upon my land,

lStrong, and without number,

mWhose teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And he hath nthe cheek teeth of a ogreat lion.

7  He hath laid my vine waste,

And †pbarked my fig tree:

He hath made it clean bare, and cast it away;

qThe branches thereof are made white.

8  Lament like a virgin rgirded with sackcloth for sthe husband of her youth.

9  tThe meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord;

uThe priests, uthe Lord’s ministers, mourn.

10  The field is wasted, vthe land mourneth;

For wthe corn is wasted: wxthe new wine is ||ydried up, wthe oil yylanguisheth.

11  zBe ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers,

For the wheat and for the barley;

Because the harvest of the field is perished.

12  The vine is ydried up, and pthe fig tree languisheth;

The pomegranate tree, athe palm tree also, and bthe apple tree,

Even all the trees of the field, are withered:

Because cjoy is ywithered away from the sons of men.

13  deGird yourselves, and dlament, ye priests:

dHowl, ye ministers of the altar:

Come, lie all night ein sackcloth, fye ministers of my God:

For fthe meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

14  gSanctify ye a fast, gcall a ||solemn assembly,

gGather hthe elders and hall the inhabitants of the land

Into the house of the Lord your God,

And cry unto the Lord,

15  Alas for the day! ifor the day of the Lord is at hand,

And as a jdestruction from kthe Almighty shall it come.

16  fIs not the meat cut off before our eyes,

Yea, ljoy and gladness ffrom the house of our God?

17  llThe †seed is rotten under their clods,

The garners are laid desolate, mthe barns are broken down;

For the corn is ywithered.

18  nHow do the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle nnare perplexed,

Because they have no pasture;

Yea, the flocks of sheep oare made desolate.

19  O Lord, pto thee will I cry:

For qthe fire hath devoured rthe ||pastures of the wilderness,

And sthe flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

20  nThe beasts of the field tcry also unto thee:

For uthe rivers of waters vare dried up,

And qthe fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

2 aBlow ye the ||trumpet bin Zion, and asound an alarm in bmy holy mountain:

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble:

cFor the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

2  cdeA day of darkness and deof gloominess,

dfA day of clouds and dfof thick darkness,

As gthe morning spread upon the mountains:

hA great people and a strong;

iThere hath not been ever the like,

Neither shall be any more after it,

Even to the years †of many generations.

3  jA fire devoureth before them;

And behind them ja flame burneth:

The land is as kthe garden of Eden before them,

And kkbehind them la desolate wilderness;

Yea, and llnothing shall escape them.

4  mThe appearance of them is as the appearance of horses;

And as horsemen, so shall they run.

5  nLike the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they nnleap,

Like the noise of a flame of ofire that devoureth the stubble,

hAs a strong people set in battle array.

6  Before their face the people shall be much pained:

pAll faces qshall gather †blackness.

7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war;

And they shall march every one on his ways,

And they shall not break their ranks:

8  Neither shall one rthrust another;

They shall walk every one in his path:

And when they fall upon the ||sword, they shall not sbe wounded.

9  tThey shall urun to and fro in the city;

They shall urun upon the wall,

They shall climb up upon the houses;

vThey shall enter in at the windows vvlike a thief.

10  wThe earth shall quake before them;

wThe heavens shall tremble:

xyThe sun and the moon shall be dark,

xAnd the stars shall withdraw their shining:

11  And xxthe Lord shall utter his voice before yhis army:

For hhis zcamp is very great:

aFor he is strong that executeth his word:

For bcthe day of the Lord is great and very cterrible;

And dwho can abide it?