Joel 1

1 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.

2 Hear this, you elders, and listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?

Hear these [words], you elders, and listen all you that inhabit the land. Have such things happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation.

Tell your children concerning them, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.

4 What the swarming locust has left the great locust has eaten; what the great locust has left the grasshopper has eaten; and what the grasshopper has left the caterpillar has eaten.

The leavings of the caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because the sweet wine has been cut off from you.

Awake, you drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all you that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness and removed are from your mouth.

6 For a nation has come up upon my land, strong and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the teeth of a lioness.

For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land, their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth those of a [lion's] whelp.

7 He has made my vineyard into a desolate place and has stripped my fig tree bare. He has stripped its bark and thrown it away; the branches are bare white.

He has ruined my vine, and utterly broken my fig-trees: he has utterly searched [my vine], and cast it down; he has peeled its branches.

8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the death of her young husband.

Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9 The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from Yahweh's house. The priests, Yahweh's servants, mourn.

The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord: mourn, you priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.

10 The fields are ruined, the ground is mourning because the grain has been destroyed. The new wine has dried up, the oil fails.

For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;

11 Be ashamed, you farmers, and wail, you vine growers, for the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the fields has perished.

the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field.

12 The vines have withered and the fig trees have dried up, the pomegranate trees, also the palm trees, and the apple trees— all the trees of the field have withered. For joy has withered away from the descendants of mankind.

The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm tree, and apple, and all trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men have have abolished joy.

13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you servants of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you servants of my God. For the grain offering and the drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God.

Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, you priests: mourn, you that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, you that minister to God: for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Call for a holy fast, and call a holy assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Yahweh your God, and cry to Yahweh.

Sanctify a fast, proclaim a [solemn] service, gather the elders [and] all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,

15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is almost here. With it will come destruction from the Almighty.

Alas, Alas, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as trouble upon trouble.

16 Has not food been cut off from before our eyes, and joy and gladness from the house of our God?

[Your] meat has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and gladness from out of the house of your God.

17 The seeds rot under their clods, the granaries are desolate, and the barns have been broken down, for the grain has withered.

The heifers have started at their mangers, the treasures are abolished, the wine presses are broken down; for the corn is withered.

18 How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are suffering because they have no pasture. Also, the flocks of sheep suffer.

What shall we store up for ourselves? the herds of cattle have mourned, because they had no pasture; and the flocks of sheep have been utterly destroyed.

19 Yahweh, I cry to you. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned all the trees of the fields.

To you, O Lord, will I cry: for fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up all the trees of the field.

20 Even the animals of the fields pant for you, for the water brooks have dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

And the cattle of the field have looked up to you: for the fountains of waters have been dried up, and fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness.