| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel. Mourning over the Locust Plague | 1This is the LORD's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel: |
| 2Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before? | 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 about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation. | 3Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. |
| 4After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops, the swarming locusts took what was left! After them came the hopping locusts, and then the stripping locusts, too! | 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! |
| 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone. | 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you. |
| 6A vast army of locusts has invaded my land, a terrible army too numerous to count. Its teeth are like lions’ teeth, its fangs like those 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 destroyed my grapevines and ruined my fig trees, stripping their bark and destroying it, leaving the branches white and bare. | 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. |
| 8Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband. | 8Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. |
| 9For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of the LORD. So the priests are in mourning. The ministers of the LORD are weeping. | 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 ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone. | 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. |
| 11Despair, all you farmers! Wail, all you vine growers! Weep, because the wheat and barley— all the crops of the field—are ruined. | 11Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished. |
| 12The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees— all the fruit trees—have dried up. And the people’s joy has dried up with them. | 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! |
| 13Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests! Wail, you who serve before the altar! Come, spend the night in burlap, you ministers of my God. For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple 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. |
| 14Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to him there. | 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. |
| 15The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be! | 15How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. |
| 16Our food disappears before our very eyes. No joyful celebrations are held in 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 seeds die in the parched ground, and the grain crops fail. The barns stand empty, and granaries are abandoned. | 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 animals moan with hunger! The herds of cattle wander about confused, because they have no pasture. The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery. | 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. |
| 19LORD, help us! The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures, and flames have burned up all the trees. | 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 wild animals cry out to you because the streams have dried up, and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures. | 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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