Joel 1:1-12 ▼

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

2 Hear this, ye old men, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, Or in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell ye your children of it, And let your children tell their children, And their children another generation.

4 That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; And that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; And that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And wail, all ye drinkers of wine, Because of the sweet wine, For it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a people is come up upon my land, Mighty, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.

7 He hath laid my vine waste, And blasted my fig-tree; He hath made it clean bare, and cast it down, The branches thereof are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.

9 The meal-offering and the drink-offering is cut off From the house of the LORD; The priests mourn, Even the LORD'S ministers.

10 The field is wasted, The land mourneth; For the corn is wasted, The new wine is dried up, The oil languisheth.

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

12 The vine is withered, And the fig-tree languisheth; The pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, Even all the trees of the field, are withered; For joy is withered away from the sons of men.