1
The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land . Hath this been in your days , or in the days of your fathers ?
3
Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [Tell ] their children , and their children another generation .
4
That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten ; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten .
5
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep ; and wail , all ye drinkers of wine , because of the sweet wine ; for it is cut off from your mouth .
6
For a nation is come up upon my land , strong, and without number ; his teeth are the teeth of a lion , and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.
7
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig -tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white .
8
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth .
9
The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah ; the priests , Jehovah's ministers , mourn .
10
The field is laid waste, the land mourneth ; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11
Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail , O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley ; for the harvest of the field is perished.
12
The vine is withered , and the fig -tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree , the palm-tree also, and the apple -tree , even all the trees of the field are withered : for joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13
Gird yourselves [with sackcloth ], and lament, ye priests ; wail , ye ministers of the altar ; come , lie all night in sackcloth , ye ministers of my God : for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God .
14
Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men [and] all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God , and cry unto Jehovah .
15
Alas for the day ! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come .
16
Is not the food cut off before our eyes , [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God ?
17
The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered .
18
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture ; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19
O Jehovah , to thee do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness , and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field .
20
Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness .