Joel 1
1 The word of Yahweh, which came unto Joel, son of Pethuel.
[I am] Joel, the son of Pethuel. [This is] a message that Yahweh gave to me.
2 Hear this, ye elders, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, —hath this ever happened in your days? or in the days of your fathers?
You leaders [of Israel], and everyone else who lives in this country, listen [to this message]! Nothing [RHQ] like this has ever happened during the time that we have lived or the time when our ancestors lived.
3 Concerning it, to your children, tell ye the story, —and your children, to their children, and their children, to the generation following: —
Tell your children about it, and tell your children to tell it to their children, and tell your grandchildren to tell it to their children.
4 That which was left by the creeping locust, hath the swarming locust eaten, and, that which was left by the swarming locust, hath the grass locust eaten; and, that which was left by the grass locust, hath the corn locust eaten.
[I am talking about] the locusts that have eaten our crops. The first swarm of locusts came and cut [many of the leaves of the crops]; then another swarm came and ate [the rest of the leaves], then another swarm came hopping along, and finally another swarm came and they destroyed [everything else].
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, —over the new wine, because it hath been cut off from your mouth.
You people who are drunk, wake up! Wake up and wail loudly, because all the grapes are ruined, and so there will be no new wine [MTY]!
6 For, a nation, hath come up over my land, bold, and without number, —his teeth, are the teeth of a lion, and, the fangs of a lioness, hath he!
[Huge swarms of] locusts have entered our country. [They are like] [MET] a powerful army [that has very many soldiers], [with the result that] no one can count them. The locusts have teeth that are [as sharp as] the teeth of lions [DOU]!
7 He hath turned my vine to a waste, and my fig-tree to splinters, —he hath, barked it clean, and cast it down, bleached are its branches.
They have destroyed our grapevines and our fig trees [by] stripping off [and eating all] the bark, with the result that the branches are white [and (bare/have no leaves on them)].
8 Wail thou, like a virgin girded with sackcloth, for the owner of her youth.
Cry like [SIM] a young woman cries when the young man to whom she was (engaged/promised to marry) has died.
9 Cut off are the meal-offering and the drink-offering, from the house of Yahweh, —In grief are the priests, the attendants on Yahweh: —
There is no grain or wine for us to offer [as sacrifices] at the temple, [so] the priests who serve Yahweh are mourning/weeping.
10 Laid waste is the field, in grief is the soil, —for laid waste is the corn, abashed is the new wine, languisheth the oil.
[The crops in] the fields have been ruined; [it is as though] [PRS] the ground is mourning. The grain has been destroyed, there are no [grapes to make] wine, and there is no [more olive] oil.
11 Turn pale, ye husbandmen, howl, ye vinedressers, over the wheat, and over the barley, —for perished is the harvest of the field.
You farmers, grieve! You who take care of grapevines, wail, because the grain has been destroyed; there is no wheat or barley growing.
12 The vine, is abashed, and, the fig-tree, languisheth, —pomegranate, palm also, and apple—all the trees of the field, have withered, Yea abashed is gladness, away from the sons of men.
The grapevines and the fig trees have withered, and the pomegranate [trees] and palm [trees] and apricot [trees] have also dried up. The people are no longer joyful.
13 Gird yourselves and beat the breast—ye priests, howl, ye attendants of the altar, go in and wrap yourselves for the night in sackcloth, ye attendants on my God, —for, withholden from the house of your God, are the meal-offering and the drink- offering.
You priests, put on [rough] sack clothes and wail. You who serve God [by offering sacrifices] on the altar, wear those rough sack clothes all night [to show that you are mourning], because there is no grain or wine to be offered at the temple of your God.
14 Hallow ye a fast, Call a solemn assembly, Gather, O elders, all the inhabitants of the land, unto the house of Yahweh your God, —and make ye outcry unto Yahweh.
Tell the people that they should (fast/abstain from eating food). Tell the leaders and the other people to gather at the temple and to cry [out] to Yahweh [there].
15 Alas for the day! For near is the day of Yahweh, and, as a veritable Destruction from the Destroyer, shall it come.
Terrible things are happening to us! It will soon be the time when Yahweh, [who is] the Almighty God, [will really punish us], [when he] will cause us to experience more disasters.
16 Is it not, before our eyes, that, food, hath been cut off? From the house of our God, rejoicing and exultation.
Our crops are already gone, and no [one is] rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.
17 Rotted hath the seed, under their clods, Laid waste are their stores, Thrown down are the garners, —Yea abashed is the corn.
[When we plant] seeds, [they do not grow]; they dry up in the ground, so there are no crops to harvest. Our barns/storehouses are empty; there is no grain [to store in them].
18 How do the beasts groan! Perplexed are the herds of oxen, because there is no pasture for them, —even, the flocks of sheep, are destroyed!
Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat, and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.
19 Unto thee, O Yahweh, will I cry, —for, a fire, hath consumed the pastures of the wilderness, and, a flame, hath set ablaze all the trees of the field.
Yahweh, I cry [out] to you, because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].
20 Even the beasts of the field, moan unto thee, —because dried up are the channels of water, and, a fire, hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
[It is as though] even the wild animals cry [out] to you because all the streams have dried up. The rivers and streams are all dry, and the grass in the pastures is all parched.
