New Living Translation | New International Version |
1The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel. Mourning over the Locust Plague | 1The word of the LORD that came to Joel 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? | 2Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days 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 it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next 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 locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. |
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 drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. |
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. | 6A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. |
7It has destroyed my grapevines and ruined my fig trees, stripping their bark and destroying it, leaving the branches white and bare. | 7It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. |
8Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband. | 8Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth. |
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. | 9Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. |
10The fields are ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone. | 10The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails. |
11Despair, all you farmers! Wail, all you vine growers! Weep, because the wheat and barley— all the crops of the field—are ruined. | 11Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. |
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 is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-- all the trees of the field--are dried up. Surely the people's joy is withered away. |
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. | 13Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. |
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. | 14Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house 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! | 15Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. |
16Our food disappears before our very eyes. No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God. | 16Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes-- joy and gladness from the house of our God? |
17The seeds die in the parched ground, and the grain crops fail. The barns stand empty, and granaries are abandoned. | 17The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken 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. | 18How the cattle moan! The herds mill about 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, LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. |
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 pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness. |
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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