Joel 1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:(A)
Lament over the Ruin of the Country
2 Hear this, O elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?(B)
3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.(C)
4 What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten;
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.(D)
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you wine drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.(E)
7 It has laid waste my vines
and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches have turned white.(F)
8 Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.(G)
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the Lord.(H)
10 The fields are devastated,
the ground mourns,
for the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil fails.(I)
11 Be dismayed, you farmers;
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
for the crops of the field are ruined.(J)
12 The vine withers;
the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
among the people.(K)
A Call to Repentance and Prayer
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God!
Grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.(L)
14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.(M)
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty[a] it comes.(N)
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?(O)
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;[b]
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
because the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep are perishing.(P)
Joel 1
International Standard Version
The Coming Invasion
1 This message from the Lord came to Pethuel’s son Joel.[a]
2 “Hear this, you elders!
Listen, all of you residents of the land!
Has there ever been anything like this during your lifetime,[b]
or even when your ancestors were alive?[c]
3 Pass it on to your children,
and from[d] your children to their children,
and from[e] their children to the following generation.
4 Whatever the devouring locust left behind
the locust swarm has consumed!
Whatever the locust swarm has left behind,
the young locust[f] has consumed!
Whatever the young locust[g] has left behind,
the ravaging locust has consumed!”
A Call to Mourning
5 “Wake up, you drunkards!
Cry aloud and howl, you wine drinkers,
because your supply of new wine has been snatched from you.[h]
6 Indeed, a nation has invaded my land—
it is strong and its population is too large to count[i]—
with teeth like a lion
and fangs[j] like a lioness.
7 That nation[k] laid waste my vines,
and stripped bare my fig tree,
discarding it.
It stripped off[l] its bark.
8 “Grieve like a virgin,
who, dressed in her mourner’s clothes,[m]
cries out in memory[n] of the man she was going to marry.[o]
9 Both grain offering and wine offering have been removed from the Lord’s Temple;[p]
the priests and ministering servants of the Lord are mourning.”
The Coming Famine
10 “The fields lie in ruins
and the ground is dried up.[q]
Indeed, the grain is ruined,
the new wine has evaporated,
and the olive oil has run out.
11 Be dismayed, you farmers!
Cry aloud, you vintners,
for the wheat and barley,
because the harvest in your fields has been lost.
12 The grapevine is shriveled
and the fig tree is withered,
along with the pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the apple tree
and all of the cultivated trees.[r]
Truly, joy has evaporated from Adam’s children.”[s]
A Call to Mourn and Repent
13 “Put on your mourning clothes, you priests;
and cry aloud, you ministering servants at the altar!
Come! Stay the night in mourner’s clothes,[t] you ministers of my God,
because the grain offering and the wine offering is held back from the Temple of your God.
14 Set apart time for a fast!
Call a solemn assembly!
Gather the elders and everyone living in the land to the Temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord!”
A Lament about the Day of the Lord
15 Oh, no! For the Day of the Lord approaches,
and like destruction from the Almighty, it will come!
16 Isn’t our food supply cut off right in front of us,[u]
along with joy and gladness from the Temple of our God?
17 Seeds shrivel within their furrows,
the storehouses lie empty,
and granaries stand in ruins
because the grain has withered.
18 Oh, how the livestock groan!
The herds of cattle[v] wander about
because they have no pasture.
Even flocks of sheep suffer!
19 To you, Lord, I cry out,
because fire has devoured the open pastures,
and has set all the cultivated trees[w] ablaze.
20 The livestock also cries out to you,
because their water sources have evaporated
and because fire has consumed the open pastures.
Footnotes
- Joel 1:1 The Heb. name Joel means The Lord is God
- Joel 1:2 Lit. this in your days
- Joel 1:2 Lit. even in the days of your ancestors
- Joel 1:3 The Heb. lacks from
- Joel 1:3 The Heb. lacks from
- Joel 1:4 Or caterpillar
- Joel 1:4 Or caterpillar
- Joel 1:5 Lit. from your lips
- Joel 1:6 Lit. and innumerable
- Joel 1:6 Or jaws
- Joel 1:7 Lit. It
- Joel 1:7 Lit. made white
- Joel 1:8 Or in sackcloth
- Joel 1:8 The Heb. lacks in memory
- Joel 1:8 Lit. the husband of her youth
- Joel 1:9 Or house; and so throughout the book
- Joel 1:10 Or ground mourns
- Joel 1:12 Lit. the trees of the field
- Joel 1:12 Lit. from sons of mankind
- Joel 1:13 Or in sackcloth
- Joel 1:16 Lit. cut off before our eyes
- Joel 1:18 Or oxen
- Joel 1:19 Lit. the trees of the field
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