< Joel 1 >
1 The word of Yahweh, which came unto Joel, son of Pethuel.
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?
3 Concerning it, to your children, tell ye the story, —and your children, to their children, and their children, to the generation following: —
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.
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.
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!
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.
8 Wail thou, like a virgin girded with sackcloth, for the owner of her youth.
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: —
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.
11 Turn pale, ye husbandmen, howl, ye vinedressers, over the wheat, and over the barley, —for perished is the harvest of the field.
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.
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.
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.
15 Alas for the day! For near is the day of Yahweh, and, as a veritable Destruction from the Destroyer, shall it come.
16 Is it not, before our eyes, that, food, hath been cut off? From the house of our God, rejoicing and exultation.
17 Rotted hath the seed, under their clods, Laid waste are their stores, Thrown down are the garners, —Yea abashed is the corn.
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!
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.
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.
