1 The word of the Lthat came toJoel was a prophet of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, and possibly a contemporary of Elisha. After the united kingdom divided, the Kingdom of Judah consisted primarily of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Judah continued to be ruled by the kings of the Davidic line. Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah. The name “Joel” means “The Lord is God.”Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 The Devastation of Locusts Hear this, O elders,Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land!Hassuch a thing asthis occurred in your days,Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it,And let your children tell their children,And their children the next generation.
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 [in judgment of Judah].
5 Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep;Wail, all you drinkers of wine,Because of the [fresh] sweet wineThat is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts],Mighty and without number;Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,And it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has made My vine (My people) a wasteandobject of horror,And splinteredandbroken My fig tree.It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away;Their branches have become white.
8 Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed withA coarse cloth made from goat’s hair. It was worn as a sign of mourning or as an act of penitence.sackclothFor the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].
9 The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut offFrom the house of the L;The priests mournWho minister to the L.
10 The field is ruined,The ground mourns;For the grain is ruined,The new wine is dried up,The fresh oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, O farmers;Wail, O vinedressers,For the wheat and for the barley,Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries upAnd the fig tree fails;The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,All the trees of the field dry up,Indeed, joy dries upandwithdrawsFrom the sons of men.
13 Clothe yourselveswith sackclothAnd lament (cry out in grief), O priests;Wail, O ministers of the altar!Come, spend the night in sackcloth [and pray without ceasing],O ministers of my God,For the grain offering and the drink offeringAre withheld from the house of your God.
14 Starvation and Drought Consecrate a fast,Proclaim a solemn assembly,Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the Lyour God,And cry out to the L[in penitent pleadings].
15 Alas for the day!For the [judgment] day of the Lis at hand,And it will come [upon the nation] as a destruction from theHeb Shaddai.Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our eyes,Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds [of grain] shrivel under the clods,The storehouses are desolateandempty,The barns are in ruinsBecause the grain is dried up.
18 How the animals groan!The herds of cattle are bewilderedandwander aimlesslyBecause they have no pasture;Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 O L, I cry out to You,For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant [in longing] for You;For the water brooks are dried upAnd fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.