Joel 1:1-20
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel* the son of Pe·thuʹel:
2 “Hear this, you elders,And pay attention, all you inhabitants of the land.*
Has anything like this happened in your daysOr in the days of your forefathers?+
3 Tell about it to your sons,And let your sons tell about it to their sons,And their sons to the next generation.
4 What was left by the devouring locust, the swarming locust has eaten;+And what was left by the swarming locust, the unwinged locust has eaten;And what the unwinged locust has left, the voracious locust has eaten.+
5 Wake up, you drunkards,+ and weep!
Wail, all you wine drinkers,Because the sweet wine has been taken from your mouths.+
6 For a nation has come up into my land, mighty and without number.+
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,+ and its jaws are those of a lion.
7 It has devastated my vine and turned my fig tree into a stump,Stripping them completely bare and tossing them aside,Leaving their twigs white.
8 Wail as a virgin* wearing sackcloth doesFor the bridegroom* of her youth.
9 Grain offering+ and drink offering+ have ceased from the house of Jehovah;The priests, the ministers of Jehovah, are in mourning.
10 The field has been devastated, the ground mourns;+For the grain has been devastated, the new wine has dried up, the oil has failed.+
11 Farmers are dismayed, vinedressers wail,Because of the wheat and the barley;For the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up,The fig tree has withered.
The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple,All the trees of the field have dried up;+For joy has turned to shame among the people.
13 Put on sackcloth* and mourn,* you priests;Wail, you ministers of the altar.+
Come in and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God;For grain offering+ and drink offering+ have been withheld from the house of your God.
14 Proclaim* a fast; call for a solemn assembly.+
Gather the elders together, with all the inhabitants of the land,To the house of Jehovah your God,+ and cry to Jehovah for help.
15 Woe because of the day!
For the day of Jehovah is near,+And it will come like a destruction from the Almighty!
16 Has not food been taken from before our very eyes,And rejoicing and joy from the house of our God?
17 The seeds* have shriveled under their shovels.
Storehouses are desolate.
Granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
18 Even the livestock groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion, for they have no pasture!
And the flocks of sheep bear the punishment.
19 To you, O Jehovah, I will call;+For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,And a flame has consumed all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild beasts long for you,Because the streams of water have dried upAnd fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.”
Footnotes
^ Meaning “Jehovah Is God.”
^ Or “earth.”
^ Or “young woman.”
^ Or “husband.”
^ Lit., “Gird yourselves.”
^ Or “beat your chest.”
^ Lit., “Sanctify.”
^ Or possibly, “dried figs.”