The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

(A)Hear this, (B)you elders;
    give ear, (C)all inhabitants of the land!
(D)Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?
(E)Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

What (F)the cutting locust left,
    (G)the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    (H)the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
    (I)the destroying locust has eaten.

Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
    and (J)wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of (K)the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
For (L)a nation has come up against my land,
    (M)powerful and beyond number;
(N)its teeth are lions' teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.
It has laid waste my vine
    and splintered my (O)fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches are made white.

Lament like a virgin[a] (P)wearing sackcloth
    for the bridegroom of her youth.
(Q)The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the Lord.
(R)The priests mourn,
    (S)the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
    (T)the ground mourns,
because (U)the grain is destroyed,
    (V)the wine dries up,
    the oil languishes.

11 (W)Be ashamed,[b] O tillers of the soil;
    wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
    (X)because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
    (Y)the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
and (Z)gladness dries up
    from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 (AA)Put on sackcloth and lament, (AB)O priests;
    (AC)wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, (AD)pass the night in sackcloth,
    (AE)O ministers of my God!
(AF)Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.

14 (AG)Consecrate a fast;
    (AH)call a solemn assembly.
Gather (AI)the elders
    and (AJ)all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.

15 Alas for the day!
(AK)For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty[c] it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
(AL)joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?

17 (AM)The seed shrivels under the clods;[d]
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
    because (AN)the grain has dried up.
18 How (AO)the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.[e]

19 To you, (AP)O Lord, I call.
(AQ)For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
(AR)and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field (AS)pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
(AT)and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.

Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:8 Or young woman
  2. Joel 1:11 The Hebrew words for dry up and be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike
  3. Joel 1:15 Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for Almighty
  4. Joel 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain
  5. Joel 1:18 Or are made desolate

The words of Amos, who was among the (A)shepherds[a] of (B)Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel (C)in the days of (D)Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of (E)Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years[b] before (F)the earthquake.

Judgment on Israel's Neighbors

And he said:

(G)“The Lord roars from Zion
    and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
(H)the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
    and the (I)top of (J)Carmel withers.”

Thus says the Lord:

(K)“For three transgressions of (L)Damascus,
    and for four, (M)I will not revoke the punishment,[c]
because they have threshed (N)Gilead
    with threshing sledges of iron.
(O)So I will send a fire upon the house of (P)Hazael,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of (Q)Ben-hadad.
I will (R)break the gate-bar of (S)Damascus,
    and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of (T)Aven,[d]
and him who holds the scepter from (U)Beth-eden;
    and the people of (V)Syria shall go into exile to (W)Kir,”
says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord:

(X)“For three transgressions of (Y)Gaza,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because (Z)they carried into exile a whole people
    to deliver them up to Edom.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of (AA)Gaza,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.
I will cut off the inhabitants from (AB)Ashdod,
    and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord:

(AC)“For three transgressions of (AD)Tyre,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
    and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of (AE)Tyre,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.”

11 Thus says the Lord:

(AF)“For three transgressions of (AG)Edom,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
(AH)because he pursued his brother with the sword
    (AI)and cast off all pity,
(AJ)and his anger tore perpetually,
    (AK)and he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon (AL)Teman,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of (AM)Bozrah.”

13 Thus says the Lord:

(AN)“For three transgressions of the (AO)Ammonites,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because (AP)they have ripped open pregnant women in (AQ)Gilead,
    that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of (AR)Rabbah,
    (AS)and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
    (AT)with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and (AU)their king shall go into exile,
    he and his princes[e] together,”
says the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 1:1 Or sheep breeders
  2. Amos 1:1 Or during two years
  3. Amos 1:3 Hebrew I will not turn it back; also verses 6, 9, 11, 13
  4. Amos 1:5 Or On
  5. Amos 1:15 Or officials

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