Joel 1

1 The Lord sent a message through Joel, son of Pethuel.

This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel:

2 Listen to this, elders; pay attention, everyone who lives in the land. Has anything ever happened like this before in your experience, or that of your forefathers?

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?

3 Tell your children about it, and have your children tell it to their children, and their children tell the next generation.

Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.

4 What the cutting locusts left, the swarming locusts have eaten; what the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts have eaten; what the hopping locusts left, the destroying locusts have eaten.

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.

5 Wake up, you drunks, and weep! Howl you wine-drinkers, because the new wine has been suddenly taken away from your mouth!

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.

6 A nation has invaded my land: powerful and too many to count. Their teeth are like lion's teeth, their fangs like those of a lioness.

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.

7 It has ruined my grapevines and destroyed my fig trees, stripping them completely and reducing them to stumps, white and bare.

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.

8 Mourn like a bride dressed in sackcloth, mourning the death of her husband-to-be.

Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.

9 Grain and wine offerings have stopped in the Temple. The priests who minister before the Lord are in mourning.

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.

10 The fields are devastated, the earth mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, the olive oil fails.

The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, farmers, and wail in sorrow, keepers of vineyards, over the wheat and the barley, for the crops from the fields are ruined.

Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vines are shriveled, the fig trees are withered; the pomegranate, the palm, and the apricot trees—all the fruit trees have dried up, and at the same time the people's happiness has also dried up.

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.

13 Dress in sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; weep, you who minister before the altar! Go and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the grain and wine offerings have stopped in the Temple.

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.

14 Proclaim a fast; call a sacred assembly. Have the elders and all people of the land gather in the Temple, and cry out to your God, to the Lord.

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.

15 What a terrible day! For the day of the Lord is near, it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Haven't we seen our food taken away from us, right before our eyes? There is no joy and happiness in God's Temple.

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

17 Seeds planted in the ground shrivel up; the storehouses are empty, the barns are torn down because the grain has dried up.

The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.

18 The farm animals moan with hunger. The herds of cattle wander everywhere because they can't find grass to eat; the flocks of sheep are suffering.

How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

19 To you, Lord, I cry out! For fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness; flames have burned up all the orchards.

To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.

20 Even the wild animals long for you because the streams have dried up, and fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness.

Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.