Joel 1:1–2:11
1 The aword of the Lord that came to bJoel, the son of Pethuel:
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
cHas anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers’ days?
3 aTell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
4 What the agnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the bswarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the cstripping locust has eaten.
5 Awake, adrunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is bcut off from your mouth.
6 For a anation has 1invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
bIts teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has amade my vine a waste
And my fig tree 1splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
8 aWail like a virgin bgirded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The agrain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the Lord.
The bpriests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord.
10 The field is aruined,
bThe land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil 1fails.
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the bharvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The 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.
13 aGird 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.
14 aConsecrate a fast,
Proclaim a bsolemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And ccry out to the Lord.
15 aAlas for the day!
For the bday of the Lord is near,
And it will come as cdestruction from the 1Almighty.
16 Has not afood been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and bjoy from the house of our God?
17 The 1aseeds shrivel under their 2clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
18 How athe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep 1suffer.
19 aTo You, O Lord, I cry;
For bfire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field 1apant for You;
For the bwater brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
1 aBlow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the bday of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
2 A day of adarkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a bgreat and mighty people;
There has cnever been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
3 A afire consumes before them
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is blike the garden of Eden before them
But a cdesolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
4 Their aappearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
5 1With a anoise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the 2crackling of a bflame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
6 Before them the people are in aanguish;
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each amarch 1in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
8 They do not crowd each other,
They march everyone in his path;
When they 1burst through the 2defenses,
They do not break ranks.
They run on the wall;
They climb into the ahouses,
They benter through the windows like a thief.
10 Before them the earth aquakes,
The heavens tremble,
The bsun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
11 The Lord autters His voice before bHis army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For cstrong is he who carries out His word.
The dday of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And ewho can endure it?