Joel 1

1 [I am] Joel, the son of Pethuel. [This is] a message that Yahweh gave to me.

The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the 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.

Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever 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.

Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to 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].

What the worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.

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]!

Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.

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 over my land, strong and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the back teeth of a great lion.

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)].

By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches 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.

Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.

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.

The meal offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's servants, are sorrowing.

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 fields are wasted, the land has become dry; for the grain is wasted, the new wine is kept back, the oil is poor.

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 farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.

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 become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone 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.

Put haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back 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].

Let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting, let the old men, even all the people of the land, come together to the house of the Lord your God, crying out 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.

Sorrow for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Ruler of all it will come.

16 Our crops are already gone, and no [one is] rejoicing at all [DOU] at the temple of our God.

Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight 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 grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.

18 Our cattle groan, searching for a pasture with some grass to eat, and the sheep bleat because they are suffering.

What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen.

19 Yahweh, I cry [out] to you, because our pastures and our forests have dried up in the hot sunshine [MET].

O Lord, my cry goes up to you: for fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste, and all the trees of the field are burned with its flame.

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.

The beasts of the field are turning to you with desire: for the water-streams are dry and fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste.