Joel 1

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

THE WORD of the LORD that came to Joel the 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, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been 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 ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children 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 the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left 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 weep, and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is 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 people is come up upon my land, mighty, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth 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.

He hath laid my vine waste, and blasted my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and cast it down, the branches thereof are made white.

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

Lament like a virgin 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 meal-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests mourn, even the LORD'S ministers.

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 wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

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 ashamed, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field 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 withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered; for joy is withered away from the sons 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.

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests, wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for the meal-offering and the drink-offering is withholden 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.

Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto 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 as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

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 food cut off before our eyes, yea, 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 grains shrivel under their hoes; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn 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 do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

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

Unto Thee, O LORD, do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath set ablaze 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.

Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto Thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.