1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
1:2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?
1:3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
1:4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.
1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.
1:6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness.
1:7 It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.
1:8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth.
1:9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.
1:10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails.
1:11 Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
1:12 The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree–all the trees of the field–are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.
1:13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
1:14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
1:15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
1:16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes–joy and gladness from the house of our God?
1:17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1:19 To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
1:20 Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.
1:1 The word of Jehovah which came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
1:2 Hear this, you elders, / And give heed, all you inhabitants of the land. / Has this ever happened in your days, / Or even in the days of your fathers?
1:3 Tell your children about it, / And let your children tell their children, / And let their children tell the next generation.
1:4 What the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; / And what the swarming locust has left, the licking locust has eaten; / And what the licking locust has left, the consuming locust has eaten.
1:5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; / Howl, all you who drink wine, / Because of the fresh wine; / For it has been cut off from your mouth.
1:6 For a nation has come up against My land, / Mighty and without number; / Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, / And it has the cutting teeth of a lioness.
1:7 It has made My vine a desolation, / And My fig tree a heap of splinters. / It has stripped it bare and cast it away; / Its branches are white.
1:8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth / Over the husband of her youth.
1:9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off / From the house of Jehovah; / The priests, the ministers of Jehovah, mourn.
1:10 The field is a waste; / The land mourns, / For the grain is a waste; / The new wine is dried up; / The fresh oil languishes.
1:11 Be ashamed, O farmers; / Howl, O vinedressers, / For the wheat and for the barley, / Because the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine is dried up, / And the fig tree languishes, / The pomegranate and the palm and the apple tree ? / All the trees of the field are dried up; / Indeed gladness has withered away / From the children of men.
1:13 Gird yourselves and lament, O priests; / Howl, O ministers of the altar. / Come, pass the night in sackcloth, / O ministers of my God. / For the meal offering and the drink offering / Are held back from the house of your God.
1:14 Sanctify a fast; / Call a solemn assembly; / Gather the elders / And all the inhabitants of the land / To the house of Jehovah your God; / And cry unto Jehovah.
1:15 Alas for the day! / For the day of Jehovah has drawn near, / And as the destruction from the Almighty it will come.
1:16 Is not our food / Cut off before our eyes, / Joy and exultation / From the house of our God?
1:17 The seeds have shriveled / Under their clods; / The storehouses have been desolated; / The barns have been torn down; / For the grain is dried up.
1:18 How the beasts groan! / The herds of cattle are confused, / For they have no pasture; / The flocks of sheep also suffer punishment.
1:19 To You, O Jehovah, I cry out; / For fire has devoured / The pastures of the wilderness, / And the flame has set ablaze / All the trees of the field.
1:20 The beasts of the field also / Cry to You, / For the waterways / Are dried up, / And fire has devoured / The pastures of the wilderness.