| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: | 1This is the LORD's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel: |
| 2Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? | 2Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors? |
| 3Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. | 3Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. |
| 4What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. | 4What the gazam -locust left the 'arbeh -locust consumed, what the 'arbeh -locust left the yeleq -locust consumed, and what the yeleq -locust left the hasil -locust consumed! |
| 5Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. | 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you. |
| 6For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. | 6For a nation has invaded our land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. Their teeth are like those of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness. |
| 7It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. | 7They have destroyed our vines; they have turned our fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark and thrown them aside; the twigs are stripped bare. |
| 8Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. | 8Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. |
| 9The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, the ministers of the LORD. | 9No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the LORD anymore. So the priests, those who serve the LORD, are in mourning. |
| 10The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes. | 10The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes. |
| 11Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. | 11Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished. |
| 12The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man. | 12The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes--the pomegranate, date, and apple as well. In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up! |
| 13Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. | 13Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. |
| 14Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. | 14Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. |
| 15Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. | 15How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. |
| 16Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? | 16Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! |
| 17The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. | 17The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. |
| 18How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. | 18Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. |
| 19To you, O LORD, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. | 19To you, O LORD, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields. |
| 20Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. | 20Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures. |
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