Joel 1:1-11 ▼

1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, O elders, Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing as this occurred in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell your children about it, And let your children tell their children, And their children the next generation.

4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten [in judgment of Judah].

5 Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep; Wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the [fresh] sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts], Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 It has made My vine (My people) a waste and object of horror, And splintered and broken My fig tree. It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away; Their branches have become white.

8 Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].

9 The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD; The priests mourn Who minister to the LORD.

10 The field is ruined, The ground mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The fresh oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, O farmers; Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley, Because the harvest of the field has perished.