Joel 1

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

This is the word of Yahweh that came to Joel 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, you elders, and listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?

3 Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another generation.

Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next 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 swarming locust has left the great locust has eaten; what the great locust has left the grasshopper has eaten; and what the grasshopper has left the caterpillar has 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, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because the sweet wine has been cut off from you.

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 has come up upon my land, strong and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the teeth of a 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.

He has made my vineyard into a desolate place and has stripped my fig tree bare. He has stripped its bark and thrown it away; the branches are bare white.

8 Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.

Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the death of her young husband.

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.

The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from Yahweh's house. The priests, Yahweh's servants, mourn.

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.

The fields are ruined, the ground is mourning because the grain has been destroyed. The new wine has dried up, the oil fails.

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, you farmers, and wail, you vine growers, for the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the fields has perished.

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 vines have withered and the fig trees have dried up, the pomegranate trees, also the palm trees, and the apple trees— all the trees of the field have withered. For joy has withered away from the descendants of mankind.

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.

Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you servants of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you servants of my God. For the grain offering and the drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God.

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.

Call for a holy fast, and call a holy assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Yahweh your God, and cry to Yahweh.

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 Yahweh is almost here. With it will come destruction from the Almighty.

16 Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight from the house of our God?

Has not food been cut off from before our eyes, and joy and gladness from the house of our God?

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 seeds rot under their clods, the granaries are desolate, and the barns have been broken down, for the grain has withered.

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 the animals groan! The herds of cattle are suffering because they have no pasture. Also, the flocks of sheep suffer.

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.

Yahweh, I cry to you. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned all the trees of the fields.

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.

Even the animals of the fields pant for you, for the water brooks have dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.