Joel 1
1 The worde of the Lord that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.
The Lord sent a message through Joel, son of Pethuel.
2 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.
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?
3 Tell you your children of it, and let your children shew to their children, and their children to another generation.
Tell your children about it, and have your children tell it to their children, and their children tell the next generation.
4 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.
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.
5 Awake ye drunkards, and weepe, and howle all ye drinkers of wine, because of the newe wine: for it shalbe pulled from your mouth.
Wake up, you drunks, and weep! Howl you wine-drinkers, because the new wine has been suddenly taken away from your mouth!
6 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.
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.
7 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.
It has ruined my grapevines and destroyed my fig trees, stripping them completely and reducing them to stumps, white and bare.
8 Mourne like a virgine girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Mourn like a bride dressed in sackcloth, mourning the death of her husband-to-be.
9 The meate offring, and the drinke offring is cut off from the House of the Lord: the Priests the Lords ministers mourne.
Grain and wine offerings have stopped in the Temple. The priests who minister before the Lord are in mourning.
10 The fielde is wasted: the lande mourneth: for the corne is destroyed: the new wine is dried vp, and the oyle is decayed.
The fields are devastated, the earth mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, the olive oil fails.
11 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.
Be ashamed, farmers, and wail in sorrow, keepers of vineyards, over the wheat and the barley, for the crops from the fields are ruined.
12 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.
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.
13 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.
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.
14 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,
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.
15 Alas: for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and it commeth as a destruction from the Almightie.
What a terrible day! For the day of the Lord is near, it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the meate cut off before our eyes? and ioy, and gladnesse from the house of our God?
Haven't we seen our food taken away from us, right before our eyes? There is no joy and happiness in God's Temple.
17 The seede is rotten vnder their cloddes: the garners are destroyed: the barnes are broken downe, for the corne is withered.
Seeds planted in the ground shrivel up; the storehouses are empty, the barns are torn down because the grain has dried up.
18 How did the beasts mourne! the herdes of cattel pine away, because they haue no pasture, and the flockes of sheepe are destroyed.
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.
19 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.
To you, Lord, I cry out! For fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness; flames have burned up all the orchards.
20 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.
Even the wild animals long for you because the streams have dried up, and fire has destroyed the pastures in the wilderness.
