Joel 1

1 The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2 Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever been 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 Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another 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 worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.

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 Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.

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 come up over my land, strong and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the back teeth of a great lion.

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 By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches are made 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 Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the betrothed of her youth.

9 The meal offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's servants, are sorrowing.

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 fields are wasted, the land has become dry; for the grain is wasted, the new wine is kept back, the oil is poor.

Wasted is the field, the land mourneth; for wasted is the corn: dried up is the new wine, withered is the oil.

11 The farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.

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 vine has become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone from the sons of men.

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 haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back 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 Let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting, let the old men, even all the people of the land, come together to the house of the Lord your God, crying 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 Sorrow for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Ruler of all it will come.

Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and like destruction from the Almighty will it come.

16 Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight 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 grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.

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 What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen.

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 O Lord, my cry goes up to you: for fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste, and all the trees of the field are burned with its flame.

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 The beasts of the field are turning to you with desire: for the water-streams are dry and fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste.

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.