Joel 1

CHAPTER 1

The Locusts Bring Desolation

¹The ^aword of ¹Yahweh that came to ^bJoel, the son of Pethuel:

^2aHear this, O ^belders,

And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.

^cHas anything like this happened in your days

Or in your fathers’ days?

^3aRecount about it to your sons,

And let your sons recount about it to their sons,

And their sons to the next generation.

⁴What the ^agnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;

And what the ^bswarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;

And what the creeping locust has left, the ^cstripping locust has consumed.

⁵Awake, ^adrunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you wine drinkers,

On account of the sweet wine

That is ^bcut off from your mouth.

⁶For a ^anation has come up against my land,

Mighty and without number;

^bIts teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And it has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷It has ^amade my vine a desolation

And my fig tree ¹splinters.

It has stripped them bare and cast them away;

Their branches have become white.

^8aWail like a virgin ^bgirded with sackcloth

For the bridegroom of her youth.

⁹The ^agrain offering and the drink offering are cut off

From the house of Yahweh.

The ^bpriests mourn,

The ministers of Yahweh.

¹⁰The field is ^adestroyed;

^bThe land mourns,

For the grain is destroyed,

The new wine dries up,

Fresh oil ¹fails.

^111aBe ashamed, O farmers,

Wail, O vinedressers,

For the wheat and the barley,

Because the ^bharvest of the field perishes.

¹²The ^avine dries up,

And the fig tree ¹fails;

The ^bpomegranate, the ^cpalm also, and the ^2dapple tree,

All the trees of the field dry up.

Indeed, ^erejoicing dries up

From the sons of men.

The Day of Yahweh Is Near

^13aGird yourselves with sackcloth

And lament, O priests;

^bWail, O ministers of the altar!

Come, ^cspend the night in sackcloth,

O ministers of my God;

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

^14aSet apart a fast as holy,

Call for a ^bsolemn assembly;

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

To the house of Yahweh your God,

And ^ccry out to Yahweh.

^15aAlas for the day!

For the ^bday of Yahweh is near,

And it will come as ^cdestruction from the ¹Almighty.

¹⁶Has not ^afood been cut off before our eyes,

Gladness and ^bjoy from the house of our God?

¹⁷The ^1aseeds shrivel under their ²clods;

The storehouses are desolate;

The barns are pulled down,

For the grain is dried up.

¹⁸How ^athe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle wander aimlessly

Because there is no pasture for them;

Even the flocks of sheep ¹suffer.

^19aTo You, O Yahweh, I cry;

For ^bfire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,

And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the beasts of the field ^1apant for You;

For the ^bwater brooks are dried up,

And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.