< Joel 1 >
1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers?
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Did ever such a thing as this come to pass in your days, or ever in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
Tell ye of it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to another generation.
4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
What the caterpillar left hath the locust eaten; and what the locust left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm left hath the cricket eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
Wake up, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet new wine, that it is taken away from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness.
For a nation is come up over my land, strong, and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it hath the cutting-teeth of the lioness.
7 It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.
It hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: it hath peeled it clean bare, and cast it down; made white are its light branches.
8 Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.
Cut off are the meat-offering and the drink-offering from the house of the Lord: now mourn the priests, the ministers of the Lord.
10 The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.
Wasted is the field, the land mourneth; for wasted is the corn: dried up is the new wine, withered is the oil.
11 Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen; wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because lost is the harvest of the field.
12 The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.
The vine is made ashamed, and the fig-tree is withered; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dried up; because joy hath ceased from the children of men.
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar: come, remain all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for there are withholden from the house of your God the meat-offering and the drink-offering.
14 Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Sanctify ye a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of the Lord your God, and cry aloud unto the Lord.
15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and like destruction from the Almighty will it come.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Is not before our eyes the food cut off, from the house of our God joy and gladness?
17 The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
The grains of seed are rotten under their clods, laid desolate are the garners, pulled down are the barns; for the corn is dried up.
18 How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
How do the beasts groan! how do the herds of cattle roam about; because there is no pasture for them: yea, the flocks of sheep are made to perish.
19 To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.
To thee O Lord, will I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath singed all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.
Also the beasts of the field cry unto thee panting; for the brooks of waters are dried up, and a fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.