Joel 1:1-20
1 The word of Jehovah that occurred+ to Joel the son of Pe·thuʹel:
2 “Hear this, YOU older men,* and give ear, all YOU inhabitants of the land.*+ Has this occurred in YOUR days, or even in the days of YOUR forefathers?+
3 Concerning it give an account to YOUR own sons, and YOUR sons to their sons, and their sons to the following generation.+
4 What was left by the caterpillar, the locust has eaten;+ and what was left by the locust, the creeping, unwinged locust* has eaten; and what the creeping, unwinged locust has left, the cockroach has eaten.+
5 “Wake up, YOU drunkards,+ and weep; and howl,+ all YOU wine drinkers, on account of sweet wine,+ for it has been cut off from YOUR mouths.+
6 For there is a nation that has come up into my land, mighty and without number.+ Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,*+ and it has the jawbones of a lion.*
7 It has set my vine as an object of astonishment,+ and my fig tree as a stump.+ It has positively stripped it bare and thrown [it] away.+ The twigs of it have become white.
8 Wail,* as a virgin girded with sackcloth+ does over the owner* of her youth.
9 “Grain offering+ and drink offering+ have been cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, the ministers+ of Jehovah, have mourned.+
10 [The] field has been despoiled,+ [the] ground has gone to mourning;+ for [the] grain has been despoiled, [the] new wine has been dried up,+ [the] oil has faded away.+
11 Farmers have felt shame;+ vinedressers have howled,* on account of wheat and on account of barley; for the harvest of [the] field has perished.+
12 The vine itself has shown dryness, and even the fig tree has faded away. As for [the] pomegranate tree, also [the] palm tree and [the] apple tree, all the trees of the field, they have dried up;+ for exultation has gone ashamed away from the sons of mankind.*+
13 “Gird yourselves, and beat YOUR breasts,+ YOU priests. Howl, YOU ministers of [the] altar.+ Come in, spend the night in sackcloth, YOU ministers of my God;* for from the house of YOUR God grain offering+ and drink offering have been withheld.+
14 Sanctify a time of fasting.+ Call together a solemn assembly.+ Gather together [the] older men, all the inhabitants of the land,* to the house of Jehovah YOUR God,+ and cry to Jehovah for aid.+
15 “Alas for the day;+ because the day of Jehovah is near,+ and like a despoiling from the Almighty One* it will come!
16 Has not food itself been cut off before our very eyes; from the house of our God, rejoicing and joyfulness?+
17 Dried figs* have shriveled under their shovels. Storehouses have been laid desolate. Barns* have been torn down, for [the] grain has dried up.
18 O how the domestic animal has sighed! [How] the droves of cattle have wandered in confusion! For there is no pasturage for them.+ Also, the droves of the sheep have been the ones made to bear guilt.
19 “To you, O Jehovah, I shall call;+ for fire itself has devoured the pasture grounds of [the] wilderness, and a very flame has consumed all the trees of the field.+
20 The beasts of the field also keep longing for you,+ because the channels of water have dried up,+ and fire itself has devoured the pasture grounds of the wilderness.”
Footnotes
^ Or, “the earth.” Heb., ha·ʼaʹrets.
^ “Lion.” Heb., la·viʼʹ, the Asian lion.
^ “Lion.” Heb., ʼar·yehʹ, the African lion.
^ “Wail,” imperative, fem. sing.
^ “Owner.” Heb., baʹʽal; Gr., anʹdra; Lat., viʹrum, “husband.”
^ Or, “Feel shame, you farmers; howl, you vinedressers.”
^ Or, “earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “My God.” Heb., ʼElo·haiʹ.
^ Or, “the earth.” Heb., ha·ʼaʹrets.
^ “Dried figs.” Or, “Grain seeds.”
^ Possibly, “Tanks.”
