1 The worde of the Lord that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel. 2 Heare ye this, O Elders, and hearken ye all inhabitantes of the land, whether such a thing hath bene in your dayes, or yet in the dayes of your fathers. 3 Tell you your children of it, and let your children shew to their children, and their children to another generation. 4 That which is left of ye palmer worme, hath the grashopper eaten, and the residue of ye grashopper hath the canker worme eaten, and the residue of the canker worme hath the caterpiller eaten. 5 Awake ye drunkards, and weepe, and howle all ye drinkers of wine, because of the newe wine: for it shalbe pulled from your mouth. 6 Yea, a nation commeth vpon my lande, mightie, and without nomber, whose teeth are like the teeth of a lyon, and he hath the iawes of a great lyon. 7 He maketh my vine waste, and pilleth off the barke of my figge tree: he maketh it bare, and casteth it downe: ye branches therof are made white. 8 Mourne like a virgine girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9 The meate offring, and the drinke offring is cut off from the House of the Lord: the Priests the Lords ministers mourne. 10 The fielde is wasted: the lande mourneth: for the corne is destroyed: the new wine is dried vp, and the oyle is decayed. 11 Be ye ashamed, O husband men: howle, O ye vine dressers for the wheate, and for the barly, because the haruest of the fielde is perished. 12 The vine is dried vp, and the figge tree is decayed: the pomegranate tree and the palme tree, and the apple tree, euen all the trees of the fielde are withered: surely the ioy is withered away from the sonnes of men. 13 Girde your selues and lament, ye Priests: howle ye ministers of the altar: come, and lie all night in sackecloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meate offring, and the drinke offring is taken away from the house of your God. 14 Sanctifie you a fast: call a solemne assemblie: gather the Elders, and all the inhabitants of the land into the House of the Lord your God, and cry vnto the Lord, 15 Alas: for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and it commeth as a destruction from the Almightie. 16 Is not the meate cut off before our eyes? and ioy, and gladnesse from the house of our God? 17 The seede is rotten vnder their cloddes: the garners are destroyed: the barnes are broken downe, for the corne is withered. 18 How did the beasts mourne! the herdes of cattel pine away, because they haue no pasture, and the flockes of sheepe are destroyed. 19 O Lord, to thee will I crie: for the fire hath deuoured the pastures of the wildernesse, and the flame hath burnt vp all the trees of the fielde. 20 The beasts of the fielde cry also vnto thee: for the riuers of waters are dried vp, and the fire hath deuoured the pastures of the wildernes.
1 This is the Lord's message to Joel son of Pethuel.
The People Mourn the Destruction of the Crops
2 Pay attention, you older people;
everyone in Judah, listen.
Has anything like this ever happened
in your time or the time of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about it;
they will tell their children,
who in turn will tell the next generation.
4 Swarm after swarm of locusts settled on the crops;
what one swarm left, the next swarm devoured.
5 Wake up and weep, you drunkards;
cry, you wine-drinkers;
the grapes for making new wine have been destroyed.
6 An army of locusts has attacked our land;
they are powerful and too many to count;
their teeth are as sharp as those of a lion.
7 They have destroyed our grapevines
and chewed up our fig trees.
They have stripped off the bark,
till the branches are white.
8 Cry, you people, like a young woman who mourns the death
of the man she was going to marry.
9 There is no grain or wine to offer in the Temple;
the priests mourn because they have no offerings for the Lord.
10 The fields are bare;
the ground mourns
because the grain is destroyed,
the grapes are dried up,
and the olive trees are withered.
11 Grieve, you farmers;
cry, you that take care of the vineyards,
because the wheat, the barley,
yes all the crops are destroyed.
12 The grapevines and fig trees have withered;
all the fruit trees have wilted and died.
The joy of the people is gone.
13 Put on sackcloth and weep,
you priests who serve at the altar!
Go into the Temple and mourn all night!
There is no grain or wine to offer your God.
14 Give orders for a fast;
call an assembly!
Gather the leaders
and all the people of Judah
into the Temple of the Lord your God
and cry out to him!
15 The day of the Lord is near,
the day when the Almighty brings destruction.
What terror that day will bring!
16 We look on helpless as our crops are destroyed.
There is no joy in the Temple of our God.
17 The seeds die in the dry earth.
There is no grain to be stored,
and so the empty granaries are in ruins.
18 The cattle are bellowing in distress
because there is no pasture for them;
the flocks of sheep also suffer.
19 I cry out to you, Lord,
because the pastures and trees are dried up,
as though a fire had burned them.
20 Even the wild animals cry out to you
because the streams have become dry.