Joel 1

The Word of the LORD to Joel

1The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

Tell It to Another Generation

2Hear this, elders,
and give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days,
or in the days of your ancestors? 3Tell it to your children,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children
another generation. 4What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust ate;
what the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust ate;
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust ate.

Wake, You Who Drink Wine

5Wake up, you who are drunk, and weep;
wail, all you who drink wine,
over the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth. 6For a nation has come up against my land,
mighty and without number.
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness. 7It has made my vine a desolation
and my fig tree a splintered thing.
It has stripped it bare and thrown it down;
its branches have become white.

Lament Before the LORD

8Lament like a young woman
wearing sackcloth
for the husband of her youth. 9Grain offering and drink offering
are cut off from the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn,
the servants of the LORD. 10The field is devastated;
the ground mourns,
for the grain is devastated,
the new wine has dried up,
and the oil languishes. 11Be ashamed, farmers;
wail, vineyard workers,
over the wheat and over the barley,
for the harvest of the field has perished. 12The vine has dried up,
and the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple tree—
all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, joy has dried up
from humanity.

Consecrate a Fast

13Put on sackcloth and lament, priests;
wail, servants of the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
servants of my God,
for grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God. 14Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders,
all the inhabitants of the land,
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.

The Day of the LORD Is Near

15Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction
from the Almighty. 16Is not food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God? 17The seeds shrivel
under their clods.
The storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down,
for the grain has dried up. 18How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer. 19To you, O LORD, I call,
for fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
all the trees of the field. 20Even the animals of the field
long for you,
for the channels of water have dried up,
and fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness.