Joel 1:1–2:17

1 The word of the Lord that came to aJoel the son of Pethuel.

The Land Laid Waste

2 Hear this, you elders,

And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!

bHas anything like this happened in your days,

Or even in the days of your fathers?

3 cTell your children about it,

Let your children tell their children,

And their children another generation.

4 dWhat the chewing 1locust left, the eswarming locust has eaten;

What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;

And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you fdrunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you drinkers of wine,

Because of the new wine,

gFor it has been cut off from your mouth.

6 For ha nation has come up against My land,

Strong, and without number;

iHis teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And he has the fangs of a 2fierce lion.

7 He has jlaid waste My vine,

And 3ruined My fig tree;

He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;

Its branches are made white.

8 kLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth

For lthe husband of her youth.

9 mThe grain offering and the drink offering

Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;

The priests nmourn, who minister to the Lord.

10 The field is wasted,

oThe land mourns;

For the grain is ruined,

pThe new wine is dried up,

The oil fails.

11 qBe ashamed, you farmers,

Wail, you vinedressers,

For the wheat and the barley;

Because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 rThe vine has dried up,

And the fig tree has withered;

The pomegranate tree,

The palm tree also,

And the apple tree—

All the trees of the field are withered;

Surely sjoy has withered away from the sons of men.

Mourning for the Land

13 tGird yourselves and lament, you priests;

Wail, you who minister before the altar;

Come, lie all night in sackcloth,

You who minister to my God;

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

14 uConsecrate a fast,

Call va sacred assembly;

Gather the elders

And wall the inhabitants of the land

Into the house of the Lord your God,

And cry out to the Lord.

15 xAlas for the day!

For ythe day of the Lord is at hand;

It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Is not the food zcut off before our eyes,

aJoy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seed shrivels under the clods,

Storehouses are in shambles;

Barns are broken down,

For the grain has withered.

18 How bthe animals groan!

The herds of cattle are restless,

Because they have no pasture;

Even the flocks of sheep 4suffer punishment.

19 O Lord, cto You I cry out;

For dfire has devoured the 5open pastures,

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

20 The beasts of the field also ecry out to You,

For fthe water brooks are dried up,

And fire has devoured the 6open pastures.

The Day of the Lord

2 Blow athe 1trumpet in Zion,

And bsound an alarm in My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;

For cthe day of the Lord is coming,

For it is at hand:

2 dA day of darkness and gloominess,

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.

eA people come, great and strong,

fThe like of whom has never been;

Nor will there ever be any such after them,

Even for many successive generations.

3 A fire devours before them,

And behind them a flame burns;

The land is like gthe Garden of Eden before them,

hAnd behind them a desolate wilderness;

Surely nothing shall escape them.

4 iTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like 2swift steeds, so they run.

5 jWith a noise like chariots

Over mountaintops they leap,

Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,

Like a strong people set in battle array.

6 Before them the people writhe in pain;

kAll faces 3are drained of color.

7 They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like men of war;

Every one marches in formation,

And they do not break lranks.

8 They do not push one another;

Every one marches in his own 4column.

Though they lunge between the weapons,

They are not 5cut down.

9 They run to and fro in the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb into the houses,

They menter at the windows nlike a thief.

10 oThe earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble;

pThe sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars diminish their brightness.

11 qThe Lord gives voice before His army,

For His camp is very great;

rFor strong is the One who executes His word.

For the sday of the Lord is great and very terrible;

tWho can endure it?

A Call to Repentance

12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,

u“Turn to Me with all your heart,

With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”

13 So vrend your heart, and not wyour garments;

Return to the Lord your God,

For He is xgracious and merciful,

Slow to anger, and of great kindness;

And He relents from doing harm.

14 yWho knows if He will turn and relent,

And leave za blessing behind Him—

aA grain offering and a drink offering

For the Lord your God?

15 bBlow the 6trumpet in Zion,

cConsecrate a fast,

Call a sacred assembly;

16 Gather the people,

dSanctify the congregation,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the children and nursing babes;

eLet the bridegroom go out from his chamber,

And the bride from her dressing room.

17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,

Weep fbetween the porch and the altar;

Let them say, g“Spare Your people, O Lord,

And do not give Your heritage to reproach,

That the nations should 7rule over them.

hWhy should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”