The Book of
Joel
1
1 The
LORD’s
word that came
to Joel, the
son of Pethuel.
2 Hear
this, you elders,
and listen, all
you inhabitants of
the land!
Has this ever
happened in your
days,
or in the
days of
your fathers?
3 Tell
your children
about it,
and have 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.
What the
grasshopper has
left, the
caterpillar has eaten.
5 Wake
up, you drunkards,
and weep!
Wail, all you
drinkers of wine,
because of the
sweet wine,
for it is
cut off from
your mouth.
6 For
a nation has
come up on
my land, strong,
and without number.
His teeth are
the teeth of
a lion,
and he has
the fangs of
a lioness.
7 He
has laid my
vine waste,
and stripped my
fig tree.
He has stripped
its bark, and
thrown it away.
Its branches are
made white.
8 Mourn
like a virgin
dressed in
sackcloth
for the husband
of her youth!
9 The
meal offering and
the drink offering
are cut off
from the LORD’s
house.
The priests, the
LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The
field is laid
waste.
The land mourns,
for the grain
is destroyed,
The new wine
has dried up,
and the
oil languishes.
11 Be confounded, you farmers!
Wail, you vineyard keepers,
for the wheat
and for the
barley;
for the harvest
of the field
has perished.
12 The
vine has dried
up, and the
fig tree withered—
the pomegranate
tree, the palm
tree also, and
the apple tree,
even all of
the trees of
the field are
withered;
for joy has
withered away from
the sons of
men.
13 Put
on sackcloth and
mourn, you priests!
Wail, you
ministers of the
altar.
Come, lie all
night in sackcloth,
you ministers of
my God,
for the meal
offering and the
drink offering are
withheld from
your God’s house.
14 Sanctify
a fast.
Call a solemn
assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the
inhabitants of
the land to the
house of the
LORD, your God,
and cry to
the LORD.
15 Alas for
the day!
For the day
of the LORD
is at hand,
and it will come
as destruction
from the Almighty.
16 Isn’t the
food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house
of our God?
17 The
seeds rot under
their clods.
The granaries are
laid desolate.
The barns are
broken down, for
the grain has
withered.
18 How
the animals groan!
The herds
of livestock are perplexed,
because they
have no pasture.
Yes, the flocks
of sheep are
made desolate.
19 LORD,
I cry to
you,
for the fire
has devoured the
pastures of the
wilderness,
and the flame
has burned all
the trees of
the field.
20 Yes,
the animals of the
field pant to
you,
for the
water brooks have
dried up,
and the fire
has devoured the
pastures of the
wilderness.