Joel 1
1 [I am] Joel, the son of Pethuel. [This is] a message that Yahweh gave to me.
A word of YHWH that has been to Joel, son of Pethuel:
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, you aged ones, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land, Has this been 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.
Concerning it talk to your sons, And your sons to their sons, And their sons 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].
What is left of the palmer-worm, the locust has eaten, And what is left of the locust, The cankerworm has eaten, And what is left of the cankerworm, The caterpillar has eaten.
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, you drunkards, and weep, And howl all drinking wine, because of the juice, For it has been 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 has come up on My land, Strong, and there is no number, Its teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, And it has the jaw-teeth of a lioness.
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)].
It has made My vine become a desolation, And My fig tree become a splinter, It has made it thoroughly bare, and has cast down, Its branches have been made white.
8 Cry like [SIM] a young woman cries when the young man to whom she was (engaged/promised to marry) has died.
Wail, as a virgin girds 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.
Present and drink-offering have been cut off from the house of YHWH, The priests have mourned, servants of YHWH.
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 field is spoiled, The ground has mourned, For the grain is spoiled, New wine has been dried up, oil languishes.
11 You farmers, grieve! You who take care of grapevines, wail, because the grain has been destroyed; there is no wheat or barley growing.
Be ashamed, you farmers, Howl, vinedressers, for wheat and for barley, For the harvest of the field has 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 vine has been dried up, And the fig tree languishes, Pomegranate, also palm, and apple-tree, All trees of the field have withered, For joy has been dried up from the sons 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, and lament, you priests, Howl, you servants of the altar, Come in, lodge in sackcloth, servants of my God, For present and drink-offering have been withheld 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 a fast, proclaim a restraint, Gather [the] elderly [and] all those inhabiting the land, [Into the] house of your God YHWH,
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.
And cry to YHWH, “Aah! For the day! For [the] Day of YHWH [is] near, And it comes as destruction from [the] Almighty.
16 Our crops are already gone, and no [one is] rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.
Is food not cut off before our eyes? Joy and rejoicing 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].
Scattered things have rotted under their clods, Storehouses have been desolated, Granaries have been broken down, For the grain has withered.
18 Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat, and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.
How livestock have sighed! Perplexed have been droves of oxen, For there is no pasture for them, Also droves of sheep have been desolated.
19 Yahweh, I cry [out] to you, because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].
To You, O YHWH, I call, For fire has consumed lovely places of a wilderness, And a flame has set on fire all trees of the field.
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.
Also the livestock of the field long for You, For dried up have been streams of water, And fire has consumed lovely places of a wilderness!”
