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

A Plague of Locusts

2 Hear this, b you elders;

listen, all you inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your days c

or in the days of your ancestors?

3 Tell your children about it, d

and let your children tell their children,

and their children the next generation.

4 What the devouring locust e has left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust has left,

the young locust f has eaten;

and what the young locust has left,

the destroying locust g has eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards, h and weep;

wail, all you wine drinkers,

because of the sweet wine,

for it has been taken from your mouth.

6 For a nation has invaded My land, i

powerful and without number;

its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and it has the fangs of a lioness. j

7 It has devastated My grapevine

and splintered My fig tree.

It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;

its branches have turned white.

8 Grieve like a young woman dressed in * sackcloth, k

mourning for the husband of her youth.

9 * Grain and * drink offerings have been cut off l

from the house of the Lord;

the priests, who are ministers of the Lord, mourn. m

10 The fields are destroyed; n

the land grieves;

indeed, the grain is destroyed;

the new wine is dried up; o

and the olive oil fails. p

11 Be ashamed, you farmers, q

wail, you vinedressers, r

over the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished. s

12 The grapevine is dried up, t

and the fig tree is withered;

the pomegranate, u the date palm, v and the apple w—

all the trees of the orchard—have withered.

Indeed, human joy has dried up. x

13 Dress in sackcloth and lament, y you priests; z

wail, a you ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth, b

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Announce a sacred fast; c

proclaim an assembly!

Gather the elders d

and all the residents of the land

at the house of the Lord your God, e

and cry out to the Lord. f

The Day of the Lord

15 Woe because of that day! g

For the Day of the Lord is near

and will come as devastation from the * Almighty. h

16 Hasn’t the food been cut off

before our eyes, i

joy and gladness j

from the house of our God?

17 The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. k l

The storehouses are in ruin,

and the granaries are broken down,

because the grain has withered away.

18 How the animals groan! m

The herds of cattle wander in confusion

since they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

19 I call to You, Lord, n

for fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness, o

and flames have devoured

all the trees of the countryside.

20 Even the wild animals cry out to p You, q

for the river beds are dried up, r

and fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness.