Joel 1
1 The Lord sent a message through Joel, son of Pethuel.
The worde of the Lord that came to Ioel the sonne 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?
Heare ye this, O Elders, and hearken ye all inhabitantes of the land, whether such a thing hath bene in your dayes, or yet in the dayes 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 you your children of it, and let your children shew to their children, and their children to another 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.
That which is left of ye palmer worme, hath the grashopper eaten, and the residue of ye grashopper hath the canker worme eaten, and the residue of the canker worme hath the caterpiller eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunks, and weep! Howl you wine-drinkers, because the new wine has been suddenly taken away from your mouth!
Awake ye drunkards, and weepe, and howle all ye drinkers of wine, because of the newe wine: for it shalbe pulled 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.
Yea, a nation commeth vpon my lande, mightie, and without nomber, whose teeth are like the teeth of a lyon, and he hath the iawes of a great lyon.
7 It has ruined my grapevines and destroyed my fig trees, stripping them completely and reducing them to stumps, white and bare.
He maketh my vine waste, and pilleth off the barke of my figge tree: he maketh it bare, and casteth it downe: ye branches therof are made white.
8 Mourn like a bride dressed in sackcloth, mourning the death of her husband-to-be.
Mourne like a virgine girded with sackcloth 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.
The meate offring, and the drinke offring is cut off from the House of the Lord: the Priests the Lords ministers mourne.
10 The fields are devastated, the earth mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, the olive oil fails.
The fielde is wasted: the lande mourneth: for the corne is destroyed: the new wine is dried vp, and the oyle is decayed.
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 ye ashamed, O husband men: howle, O ye vine dressers for the wheate, and for the barly, because the haruest of the fielde is 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 vine is dried vp, and the figge tree is decayed: the pomegranate tree and the palme tree, and the apple tree, euen all the trees of the fielde are withered: surely the ioy is withered away from the sonnes of men.
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.
Girde your selues and lament, ye Priests: howle ye ministers of the altar: come, and lie all night in sackecloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meate offring, and the drinke offring is taken away 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.
Sanctifie you a fast: call a solemne assemblie: gather the Elders, and all the inhabitants of the land into the House of the Lord your God, and cry vnto 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 at hand, and it commeth as a destruction from the Almightie.
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.
Is not the meate cut off before our eyes? and ioy, and gladnesse 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 seede is rotten vnder their cloddes: the garners are destroyed: the barnes are broken downe, for the corne is withered.
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 did the beasts mourne! the herdes of cattel pine away, because they haue no pasture, and the flockes of sheepe are destroyed.
19 To you, Lord, I cry out! For fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness; flames have burned up all the orchards.
O Lord, to thee will I crie: for the fire hath deuoured the pastures of the wildernesse, and the flame hath burnt vp all the trees of the fielde.
20 Even the wild animals long for you because the streams have dried up, and fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness.
The beasts of the fielde cry also vnto thee: for the riuers of waters are dried vp, and the fire hath deuoured the pastures of the wildernes.
