1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

2  aHear this, byou elders;

give ear, ball inhabitants of the land!

cHas such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

3  dTell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

4  What ethe cutting locust left,

fthe swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

gthe hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

hthe destroying locust has eaten.

5  Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and iwail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of jthe sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

6  For ka nation has come up against my land,

kpowerful and beyond number;

lits teeth are lions’ teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

7  It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my mfig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

8  Lament like a virgin1 nwearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

9  oThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

pThe priests mourn,

pthe ministers of the Lord.

10  The fields are destroyed,

qthe ground mourns,

because rthe grain is destroyed,

rthe wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

11  sBe ashamed,2 O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

tbecause the harvest of the field has perished.

12  The vine dries up;

uthe fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and vgladness dries up

from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13  wPut on sackcloth and lament, pO priests;

xwail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, wpass the night in sackcloth,

pO ministers of my God!

yBecause grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

14  zConsecrate a fast;

zcall a solemn assembly.

Gather athe elders

and aall the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15  Alas for the day!

bFor the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty3 it comes.

16  Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

cjoy and gladness

from the house of our God?

17  dThe seed shrivels under the clods;4

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because ethe grain has dried up.

18  How fthe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.5

19  To you, gO Lord, I call.

hFor fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

hand flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20  Even the beasts of the field ipant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

hand fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.