The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts
2 aHear this, byou elders;
give ear, ball inhabitants of the land!
cHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 aTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What athe cutting locust left,
bthe swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
cthe hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
dthe destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and awail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of bthe sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For aa nation has come up against my land,
apowerful and beyond number;
bits teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my afig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin awearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 aThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
bThe priests mourn,
bthe ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
athe ground mourns,
because bthe grain is destroyed,
bthe wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 aBe ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
bbecause the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
athe fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and bgladness dries up
from the children of man.
A Call to Repentance
13 aPut on sackcloth and lament, bO priests;
cwail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, apass the night in sackcloth,
bO ministers of my God!
dBecause grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 aConsecrate a fast;
acall a solemn assembly.
Gather bthe elders
and ball the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
aFor the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
ajoy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 aThe seed shrivels under the clods;
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because bthe grain has dried up.
18 How athe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 To you, aO Lord, I call.
bFor fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
band flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field apant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
band fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.