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(A)Hear this, O (B)elders,
And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
(C)Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers’ days?
(D)Recount about it to your sons,
And let your sons recount about it to their sons,
And their sons to the next generation.

What the (E)gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;
And what the (F)swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;
And what the creeping locust has left, the (G)stripping locust has consumed.
Awake, (H)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is (I)cut off from your mouth.
For a (J)nation has come up against my land,
Mighty and without number;
(K)Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
It has (L)made my vine a desolation
And my fig tree [a]splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.

(M)Wail like a virgin (N)girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
The (O)grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of Yahweh.
The (P)priests mourn,
The ministers of Yahweh.
10 The field is (Q)destroyed;
(R)The land mourns,
For the grain is destroyed,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil [b]fails.
11 [c](S)Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley,
Because the (T)harvest of the field perishes.
12 The (U)vine dries up,
And the fig tree [d]fails;
The (V)pomegranate, the (W)palm also, and the [e](X)apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, (Y)rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:7 Or a stump
  2. Joel 1:10 Lit wastes away
  3. Joel 1:11 Or The farmers are ashamed, The vinedressers wail
  4. Joel 1:12 Lit wastes away
  5. Joel 1:12 Or apricot

An Invasion of Locusts

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

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

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

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

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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