Joel 1

The Devastation of Locusts

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

2 Joel 1:2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days?

3 Joel 1:3 Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation.

4 Joel 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

5 Joel 1:5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.

6 Joel 1:6 For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 Joel 1:7 It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white.

8 Joel 1:8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.

9 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.

10 Joel 1:10 The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.

11 Joel 1:11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

12 Joel 1:12 The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.

13 Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

14 Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim 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.

15 Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Joel 1:16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?

17 Joel 1:17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up.

18 Joel 1:18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

19 Joel 1:19 To You, O LORD, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

20 Joel 1:20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.