12 葡萄樹枯死,
無花果樹凋殘,
石榴樹、棕樹、蘋果樹等田野的一切樹木枯乾。
人間的歡樂消逝了。

13 祭司啊,穿著喪服痛哭吧;
在祭壇前事奉的人啊,要哀號;
我上帝的僕人啊,要披上麻衣過夜;
因為再無素祭和奠祭獻到你們上帝的殿中了。

14 你們要定一個禁食的日子,
舉行莊嚴的聚會,
召集全國的長老和人民,
到你們的上帝耶和華的殿中,
向耶和華呼求。

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12 Grapevines have dried up
and so has every tree—
    figs and pomegranates,[a]
    date palms and apples.
All happiness has faded away.

Return to God

13 Mourn, you priests who serve
    at the altar of my God.
Spend your days and nights
    wearing sackcloth.[b]
Offerings of grain and wine
are no longer brought
    to the Lord's temple.

14 Tell the leaders and people
to come together
    at the temple.
Order them to go without eating[c]
    and to pray sincerely.

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Footnotes

  1. 1.12 pomegranates: A bright red fruit that looks like an apple.
  2. 1.13 sackcloth: A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.
  3. 1.14 go without eating: As a way of showing sorrow for their sins.

12 The vine is dried up
    and the fig tree is withered;(A)
the pomegranate,(B) the palm and the apple[a] tree—
    all the trees of the field—are dried up.(C)
Surely the people’s joy
    is withered away.

A Call to Lamentation

13 Put on sackcloth,(D) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister(E) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(F)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(G)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land(H)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out(I) to the Lord.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot