1 The word of theLordthat came toJoel the son of Pethuel.
The Land Laid Waste
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
Hasanythinglikethis happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it,
Letyour childrentelltheir children,
And their children another generation.
4 What the chewing locust left, theswarming 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, youdrunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 Fora nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
His teetharethe teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He haslaid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrownitaway;
Its branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
Forthe husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of theLord;
The priestsmourn, who minister to theLord.
10 The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The 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;
Surelyjoy has withered away from the sons of men.
Mourning for the Land
13 Gird 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 Consecrate a fast,
Calla sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
Andall the inhabitants of the land
Intothe house of theLordyour God,
And cry out to theLord.
15 Alas for the day!
Forthe day of theLordisat hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the foodcut off before our eyes,
Joy 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 Howthe animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
19 OLord,to You I cry out;
Forfire has devoured the open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field alsocry out to You,
Forthe water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the open pastures.