Add parallel Print Page Options

The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.

Mourning over the Locust Plague

Hear this, you leaders of the people.
    Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
    has anything like this happened before?
Tell your children about it in the years to come,
    and let your children tell their children.
    Pass the story down from generation to generation.
After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops,
    the swarming locusts took what was left!
After them came the hopping locusts,
    and then the stripping locusts,[a] too!

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
    and all your sweet wine is gone.
A vast army of locusts[b] has invaded my land,
    a terrible army too numerous to count.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth,
    its fangs like those of a lioness.
It has destroyed my grapevines
    and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
    leaving the branches white and bare.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:4 The precise identification of the four kinds of locusts mentioned here is uncertain.
  2. 1:6 Hebrew A nation.

19 Lord, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
    and flames have burned up all the trees.
20 Even the wild animals cry out to you
    because the streams have dried up,
    and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends