1 The word of the LORD that came to a Joel the son of Pethuel.
2
Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
b Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3
c Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4
d What the chewing 1 locust 2 left, the e swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5
Awake, you f drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
g For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6
For h a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
i His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a 3 fierce lion.
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He has j laid waste My vine,
And 4 ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8
k Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For l the husband of her youth.
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m The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the LORD;
The priests n mourn, who minister to the LORD.
10
The field is wasted,
o The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
p The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
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q Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12
r The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree -
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely s joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13
t Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
14
u Consecrate a fast,
Call v a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And w all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.
15
x Alas for the day!
For y the day of the LORD is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
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Is not the food z cut off before our eyes,
a Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17
The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
18
How b the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep 5 suffer punishment.
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O LORD, c to You I cry out;
For d fire has devoured the 6 open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20
The beasts of the field also e cry out to You,
For f the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the 7 open pastures.