Joel 1

1The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

1This is the message from the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2Hear 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?

2Listen to this, you leaders! Pay attention, everyone living in the land! Has anything like this ever happened in your lifetime or in the days of your ancestors?

3Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

3Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children tell the next generation.

4That 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.

4What the cutting locusts left, the swarming locusts have eaten; what the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts have eaten; and what the hopping locusts left, the stripping locusts have eaten.

5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you who drink wine, because the sweet wine has been snatched away from your lips.

6For 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.

6A powerful nation with countless soldiers has invaded my land; its teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a mother lion.

7He 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.

7It has destroyed my grapevines and stripped my fig trees; it peeled off their bark and threw it aside, leaving the branches white and bare.

8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

8Mourn like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the man she was promised to marry.

9The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah’s ministers, mourn.

9The grain offerings and the drink offerings have stopped coming to the house of the LORD; the priests who serve the LORD are in mourning.

10The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

10The fields are ruined and the ground mourns; the grain is destroyed, the new wine has dried up, and the olive oil has failed.

11Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished.

11Be dismayed, you farmers! Wail, you grape growers! Grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is completely lost.

12The 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.

12The vines have withered and the fig trees have wilted; the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple tree—all the trees of the field have dried up. Surely the joy of the people has withered away.

13Gird yourselveswith 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.

13Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; wail, you who serve at the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are no longer brought to the temple of your God.

14Sanctify 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.

14Announce a fast; call a sacred meeting. Gather the leaders and everyone living in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.

15Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

15What a terrible day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

16Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

16Hasn't our food been cut off right before our eyes? Hasn't joy and gladness disappeared from the house of our God?

17The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.

17The seeds are shriveled in the parched ground; the storehouses are empty and the barns are falling down, because the grain has dried up.

18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

18How the animals groan! The herds of cattle wander around confused because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

19O 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.

19LORD, I cry out to you, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

20Yea, 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.

20Even the wild animals pant for you because the streams of water have dried up and fire has consumed the pastures in the wilderness.