The word of the Lord that came to aJoel the son of Pethuel.
The Land Laid Waste
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
aHas anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 aTell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4 aWhat the chewing locust left, the bswarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you adrunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
bFor it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For aa nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
bHis teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He has alaid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8 aLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For bthe husband of her youth.
9 aThe grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests bmourn, who minister to the Lord.
10 The field is wasted,
aThe land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
bThe new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
11 aBe ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 aThe vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely bjoy has withered away from the sons of men.
Mourning for the Land
13 aGird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
14 aConsecrate a fast,
Call ba sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And call the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.
15 aAlas for the day!
For bthe day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the food acut off before our eyes,
bJoy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
18 How athe animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
19 O Lord, ato You I cry out;
For bfire has devoured the open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field also acry out to You,
For bthe water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the open pastures.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.