Joel 1:1–20
The word of the Lord that camea to Joelb son of Pethuel.
listen, all who live in the land.e
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?f
3 Tell it to your children,g
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.h
4 What the locusti swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have leftj
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine;l
wail because of the new wine,
for it has been snatchedm from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;n
it has the teetho of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid wastep my vines
and ruined my fig trees.q
It has stripped off their bark
and thrown it away,
leaving their branches white.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackclothr
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain offerings and drink offeringss
are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,t
those who minister before the Lord.
the ground is dried up;u
the grain is destroyed,
the new winev is dried up,
the olive oil fails.w
11 Despair, you farmers,x
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,y
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.z
and the fig tree is withered;a
the pomegranate,b the palm and the appleb tree—
all the trees of the field—are dried up.c
Surely the people’s joy
is withered away.
13 Put on sackcloth,d you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who ministere before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offeringsf
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;g
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the landh
to the house of the Lord your God,
15 Alas for thatk day!
For the day of the Lordl is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.c m
16 Has not the food been cut offn
before our very eyes—
joy and gladnesso
from the house of our God?p
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;r
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.s
19 To you, Lord, I call,t
for fireu has devoured the pasturesv in the wilderness
and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you;w
the streams of water have dried upx
and fire has devoured the pasturesy in the wilderness.