1 The Locusts Bring Desolation The word of 1:1 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15 Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, O elders,And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.Hasanything likethis happened in your daysOr in your fathers’ days?
3 Recount about it to your sons,Andletyour sonsrecount about it totheir sons,And their sons to the next generation.
4 ¶What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has consumed.
5 Awake, drunkards, and weep;And wail, all you wine drinkers,On account of the sweet wineThat is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against my land,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 a desolationAnd my fig tree 1:7Or a stump splinters.It has stripped them bare and castthemaway;Their branches have become white.
8 ¶Wail like a virgin girded with sackclothFor the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut offFrom the house of Yahweh.The priests mourn,The ministers of Yahweh.
10 The field is destroyed;The land mourns,For the grain is destroyed,The new wine dries up,Fresh oil 1:10 Lit wastes away fails.
11 1:11 Or The farmers are ashamed, The vinedressers wail Be ashamed, O farmers,Wail, O vinedressers,For the wheat and the barley,Because the harvest of the field perishes.
12 The vine dries up,And the fig tree 1:12Lit wastes away fails;The pomegranate, the palm also, and the 1:12Or apricot apple tree,All the trees of the field dry up.Indeed, rejoicing dries upFrom the sons of men.The Day of Yahweh Is Near
13 ¶Gird yourselveswith sackclothAnd 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 offeringAre withheld from the house of your God.
14 Set apart a fast as holy,Call for a solemn assembly;Gather the eldersAndall the inhabitants of the landTo the house of Yahweh your God,And cry out to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day!For the day of Yahweh is near,And it will come as destruction from the 1:15 Heb Shaddai Almighty.
16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes,Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
17 The 1:17 Or dried figs seeds shrivel under their 1:17 Or shovels clods;The storehouses are desolate;The barns are pulled down,For the grain is dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!The herds of cattle wander aimlesslyBecause there is no pasture for them;Even the flocks of sheep 1:18 Lit bear punishment suffer.
19 To You, O Yahweh, I cry;For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field 1:20 Lit long for pant for You;For the water brooks are dried up,And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.