Joel 1
1 [I am] Joel, the son of Pethuel. [This is] a message that Yahweh gave to me.
The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel.
2 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.
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 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.
Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
4 [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].
That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.
5 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]!
Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 [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]!
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion’s whelp.
7 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)].
He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Cry like [SIM] a young woman cries when the young man to whom she was (engaged/promised to marry) has died.
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 There is no grain or wine for us to offer [as sacrifices] at the temple, [so] the priests who serve Yahweh are mourning/weeping.
Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have mourned:
10 [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.
The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.
11 You farmers, grieve! You who take care of grapevines, wail, because the grain has been destroyed; there is no wheat or barley growing.
The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 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.
The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.
13 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.
Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.
14 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].
Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:
15 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.
Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.
16 Our crops are already gone, and no [one is] rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.
Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 [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].
The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.
18 Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat, and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.
Why did the beast groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.
19 Yahweh, I cry [out] to you, because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].
To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country.
20 [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.
Yea and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.
