Joel 1

An Invasion of Locusts

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

2 a Hear this, b you elders;
give ear, b all inhabitants of the land!
c Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 d Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.

4 What e the cutting locust left,
f the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
g the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
h the destroying locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and i wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of j the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For k a nation has come up against my land,
k powerful and beyond number;
l its teeth are lions' teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my m fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin 1 n wearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 o The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
p The priests mourn,
p the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
q the ground mourns,
because r the grain is destroyed,
r the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.

11 s Be ashamed, 2 O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
t because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
u the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and v gladness dries up
from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 w Put on sackcloth and lament, p O priests;
x wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, w pass the night in sackcloth,
p O ministers of my God!
y Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.

14 z Consecrate a fast;
z call a solemn assembly.
Gather a the elders
and a all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.

15 Alas for the day!
b For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty 3 it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
c joy and gladness
from the house of our God?

17 d The seed shrivels under the clods; 4
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because e the grain has dried up.
18 How f the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer. 5

19 To you, g O Lord, I call.
h For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
h and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field i pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
h and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.

  1. Cross References
    Hosea 5:1
    Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.
  2. Cross References
    Joel 1:14
    Consecrate 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 out to the Lord.
  3. Cross References
    Joel 1:14
    Consecrate 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 out to the Lord.
  4. Cross References
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 78:4
    We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
  6. Cross References
    Joel 2:25
    I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
    Amos 4:9
    I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  7. Cross References
    Amos 7:1
    This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
    Exodus 10:4
    For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.
  8. Cross References
    Joel 2:25
    I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
    Psalms 105:34
    He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number.
    Nahum 3:15
    There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
  9. Cross References
    Joel 2:25
    I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
    Psalms 78:46
    He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:11
    There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
  11. Cross References
    Joel 3:18
    And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.
    Isaiah 49:26
    I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
    Amos 9:13
    Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
  12. Cross References
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
  13. Cross References
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
  14. Cross References
    Revelation 9:7 - 8
    In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces.
  15. Cross References
    Joel 1:12
    The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
  16. Cross References
    Joel 1:13
    Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
    2 Samuel 3:31
    Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." And King David followed the bier.
  17. Cross References
    Joel 1:13
    Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
    Joel 2:14
    Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
  18. Cross References
    Joel 2:17
    Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'
    Isaiah 61:6
    But you shall be called the priests of the Lord ; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
    Ezekiel 45:4
    It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.
  19. Cross References
    Joel 2:17
    Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?
    Isaiah 61:6
    But you shall be called the priests of the Lord ; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
    Ezekiel 45:4
    It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.
  20. Cross References
    Hosea 4:3
    Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
  21. Cross References
    Hosea 2:9
    Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
  22. Cross References
    Hosea 2:9
    Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:4
    Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
  24. Cross References
    Joel 1:17
    The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.
  25. Cross References
    Joel 1:7
    It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:11
    There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
    Jeremiah 48:33
    Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.
  27. Cross References
    Joel 1:8
    Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
    Jeremiah 4:8
    For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.
  28. Cross References
    Joel 1:8
    Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
    Jeremiah 4:8
    For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.
  29. Cross References
    Joel 1:9
    The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
  30. Cross References
    Joel 1:9
    The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
  31. Cross References
    Joel 1:8
    Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
    Micah 1:8
    For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
  32. Cross References
    Joel 1:9
    The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
    Joel 2:14
    Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
  33. Cross References
    Joel 2:15 - 16
    Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly.
    2 Chronicles 20:3
    Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
  34. Cross References
    Joel 2:15 - 16
    Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly.
    2 Chronicles 20:3
    Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
  35. Cross References
    Joel 1:2
    Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
  36. Cross References
    Joel 1:2
    Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
  37. Cross References
    Joel 2:1
    Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my ho...
    Joel 2:11
    The Lord utters his voice before his army, for ...
    Joel 2:31
    The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the mo...
    Joel 3:14
    Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decisi...
    Isaiah 13:6
    Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destr...
    Isaiah 13:9
    Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with ...
    Jeremiah 46:10
    That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a...
    Ezekiel 30:2 - 3
    "Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the L...
    Amos 5:18
    Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why ...
    Obadiah 1:15
    For the day of the Lord is near upon all the na...
    Zephaniah 1:14 - 15
    The great day of the Lord is near, near and has...
    Zechariah 14:1
    Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the ...
    2 Peter 3:10
    But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,...
  38. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:6 - 7
    And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
    Deuteronomy 16:14 - 15
    You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
  39. Cross References
    Malachi 2:3
    Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.
  40. Cross References
    Joel 1:11
    Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
  41. Cross References
    Joel 2:22
    Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
    Jeremiah 12:4
    How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, "He will not see our latter end.
    Hosea 4:3
    Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
  42. Cross References
    Psalms 50:15
    And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
  43. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:10
    I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.
  44. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:10
    I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.
  45. Cross References
    Job 38:41
    Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
    Psalms 104:21
    The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
    Psalms 145:15
    The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
  46. Cross References
    Joel 1:19
    To you, O Lord, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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