Joel 1:1-12

New International Version

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

An Invasion of Locusts

²Hear 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)
³Tell it to your children,^(G)
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.^(H)
⁴What 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)

⁵Wake 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.
⁶A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;^(N)
it has the teeth^(O) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.
⁷It 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.

⁸Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth^(R)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
⁹Grain 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.
¹⁰The 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)

¹¹Despair, you farmers,^(X)
    wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,^(Y)
    because the harvest of the field is destroyed.^(Z)
¹²The 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.

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Footnotes

Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot

Joel 3:16-21

New International Version

¹⁶The Lord will roar^(A) from Zion
    and thunder from Jerusalem;^(B)
    the earth and the heavens will tremble.^(C)
But the Lord will be a refuge^(D) for his people,
    a stronghold^(E) for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷“Then you will know^(F) that I, the Lord your God,^(G)
dwell in Zion,^(H) my holy hill.^(I)
Jerusalem will be holy;^(J)
never again will foreigners invade her.^(K)

¹⁸“In that day the mountains will drip new wine,^(L)
    and the hills will flow with milk;^(M)
    all the ravines of Judah will run with water.^(N)
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house^(O)
    and will water the valley of acacias.^[a]^(P)
¹⁹But Egypt^(Q) will be desolate,
    Edom^(R) a desert waste,
because of violence^(S) done to the people of Judah,
    in whose land they shed innocent blood.
²⁰Judah will be inhabited forever^(T)
    and Jerusalem through all generations.
²¹Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?^(U)
    No, I will not.^(V)”