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Verbum Domini, quod factum est ad Joel, filium Phatuel.

Audite hoc, senes, et auribus percipite, omnes habitatores terrae: si factum est istud in diebus vestris, aut in diebus patrum vestrorum?

Super hoc filiis vestris narrate, et filii vestri filiis suis, et filii eorum generationi alterae.

Residuum erucae comedit locusta, et residuum locustae comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo.

Expergiscimini, ebrii, et flete et ululate, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine, quoniam periit ab ore vestro.

Gens enim ascendit super terram meam, fortis et innumerabilis: dentes ejus ut dentes leonis, et molares ejus ut catuli leonis.

Posuit vineam meam in desertum, et ficum meam decorticavit; nudans spoliavit eam, et projecit: albi facti sunt rami ejus.

Plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum pubertatis suae.

Periit sacrificium et libatio de domo Domini; luxerunt sacerdotes, ministri Domini.

10 Depopulata est regio, luxit humus, quoniam devastatum est triticum, confusum est vinum, elanguit oleum.

11 Confusi sunt agricolae, ululaverunt vinitores super frumento et hordeo, quia periit messis agri.

12 Vinea confusa est, et ficus elanguit; malogranatum, et palma, et malum, et omnia ligna agri aruerunt, quia confusum est gaudium a filiis hominum.

13 Accingite vos, et plangite, sacerdotes: ululate, ministri altaris; ingredimini, cubate in sacco, ministri Dei mei, quoniam interiit de domo Dei vestri sacrificium et libatio.

14 Sanctificate jejunium, vocate coetum, congregate senes, omnes habitatores terrae in domum Dei vestri, et clamate ad Dominum:

15 A, a, a, diei! quia prope est dies Domini, et quasi vastitas a potente veniet.

16 Numquid non coram oculis vestris alimenta perierunt de domo Dei nostri, laetitia et exsultatio?

17 Computruerunt jumenta in stercore suo, demolita sunt horrea, dissipatae sunt apothecae, quoniam confusum est triticum.

18 Quid ingemuit animal, mugierunt greges armenti? quia non est pascua eis; sed et greges pecorum disperierunt.

19 Ad te, Domine, clamabo, quia ignis comedit speciosa deserti, et flamma succendit omnia ligna regionis.

20 Sed et bestiae agri, quasi area sitiens imbrem, suspexerunt ad te, quoniam exsiccati sunt fontes aquarum, et ignis devoravit speciosa deserti.

The word of the Lord that came(A) to Joel(B) son of Pethuel.

An Invasion of Locusts

Hear this,(C) you elders;(D)
    listen, all who live in the land.(E)
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
    or in the days of your ancestors?(F)
Tell it to your children,(G)
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.(H)
What the locust(I) 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(J)
    other locusts[a] have eaten.(K)

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you drinkers of wine;(L)
wail because of the new wine,
    for it has been snatched(M) from your lips.
A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;(N)
it has the teeth(O) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.
It has laid waste(P) my vines
    and ruined my fig trees.(Q)
It has stripped off their bark
    and thrown it away,
    leaving their branches white.

Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(R)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
Grain offerings and drink offerings(S)
    are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,(T)
    those who minister before the Lord.
10 The fields are ruined,
    the ground is dried up;(U)
the grain is destroyed,
    the new wine(V) is dried up,
    the olive oil fails.(W)

11 Despair, you farmers,(X)
    wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,(Y)
    because the harvest of the field is destroyed.(Z)
12 The vine is dried up
    and the fig tree is withered;(AA)
the pomegranate,(AB) the palm and the apple[b] tree—
    all the trees of the field—are dried up.(AC)
Surely the people’s joy
    is withered away.

A Call to Lamentation

13 Put on sackcloth,(AD) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister(AE) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(AF)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(AG)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land(AH)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out(AI) to the Lord.(AJ)

15 Alas for that(AK) day!
    For the day of the Lord(AL) is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[c](AM)

16 Has not the food been cut off(AN)
    before our very eyes—
joy and gladness(AO)
    from the house of our God?(AP)
17 The seeds are shriveled
    beneath the clods.[d](AQ)
The storehouses are in ruins,
    the granaries have been broken down,
    for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan!
    The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;(AR)
    even the flocks of sheep are suffering.(AS)

19 To you, Lord, I call,(AT)
    for fire(AU) has devoured the pastures(AV) in the wilderness
    and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you;(AW)
    the streams of water have dried up(AX)
    and fire has devoured the pastures(AY) in the wilderness.

Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
  2. Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot
  3. Joel 1:15 Hebrew Shaddai
  4. Joel 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.