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Joel 1
Living Bible
Joel 1
Living Bible
1 This message came from the Lord to Joel, son of Pethuel:
2 Listen, you aged men of Israel! Everyone, listen! In all your lifetime, yes, in all your history, have you ever heard of such a thing as I am going to tell you? 3 In years to come, tell your children about it; pass the awful story down from generation to generation. 4 After the cutter-locusts finish eating your crops, the swarmer-locusts will take what’s left! After them will come the hopper-locusts! And then the stripper-locusts too!
5 Wake up and weep, you drunkards, for all the grapes are ruined, and all your wine is gone! 6 A vast army of locusts[a] covers the land. It is a terrible army too numerous to count, with teeth as sharp as those of lions! 7 They have ruined my vines and stripped the bark from the fig trees, leaving trunks and branches white and bare.
8 Weep with sorrow, as a virgin weeps whose fiancé is dead. 9 Gone are the offerings of grain and wine to bring to the Temple of the Lord; the priests are starving. Hear the crying of these ministers of God. 10 The fields are bare of crops. Sorrow and sadness are everywhere. The grain, the grapes, the olive oil are gone.
11 Well may you farmers stand so shocked and stricken; well may you vinedressers weep. Weep for the wheat and the barley, too, for they are gone. 12 The grapevines are dead; the fig trees are dying; the pomegranates wither; the apples shrivel on the trees; all joy has withered with them.
13 O priests, robe yourselves in sackcloth. O ministers of my God, lie all night before the altar, weeping. For there are no more offerings of grain and wine for you. 14 Announce a fast; call a solemn meeting. Gather the elders and all the people into the Temple of the Lord your God, and weep before him there.
15 Alas, this terrible day of punishment[b] is on the way. Destruction from the Almighty is almost here! 16 Our food will disappear before our eyes; all joy and gladness will be ended in the Temple of our God. 17 The seed rots in the ground; the barns and granaries are empty; the grain has dried up in the fields. 18 The cattle groan with hunger; the herds stand perplexed, for there is no pasture for them; the sheep bleat in misery.
19 Lord, help us! For the heat has withered the pastures and burned up all the trees. 20 Even the wild animals cry to you for help, for there is no water for them. The creeks are dry, and the pastures are scorched.
Joel 1
New Catholic Bible
Joel 1
New Catholic Bible
Mourning and Repentance in Judea
Chapter 1
The Countryside Is Ravaged.[a] 1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, you elders!
Listen to me, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about it,
and let them relate it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
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.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Lament, all you winedrinkers!
For the juice of the grape
will be snatched from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and too vast to count,
possessing teeth like those of a lion,
and the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vines
and destroyed my fig trees,
stripping off their bark
and leaving their branches white.
8 Lament like a virgin garbed in sackcloth
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
The priests, the ministers of the Lord,
are in mourning.
10 The fields are destroyed;
the earth mourns.
The grain has been ruined;
the wine has dried up;
the oil has failed.
11 Despair, you farmers,
and wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley;
the harvest of the fields is lost.
12 The vine has withered;
the fig tree droops.
The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple tree—
all the trees of the field have dried up.
And the joy of the people
has also withered away.
Announce a Holy Fast; Proclaim a Solemn Assembly[b]
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests!
Wail, you ministers of the altar!
Come, pass the entire night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God!
For the house of your God is deprived
of grain offerings and libations.
14 Announce a holy fast;
proclaim a solemn assembly.
Summon the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord, your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Woe to us on that day!
For the day of the Lord[c] is near,
coming as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off
before our very eyes?
Have not joy and gladness disappeared
from the house of our God?
17 The seed has shriveled under the clods;
the storehouses are empty,
and the granaries are deserted
because the grain has dried up.
18 How loudly the cattle groan!
The herds of oxen are bewildered
because they have no pasture;
even the flocks of sheep are wasting away.
19 To you, O Lord, I cry,
for fire has consumed the open pastures
and flames have destroyed every tree in the countryside.
20 Even the beasts of the field
cry out to you.
For the streams of water have dried up,
and fire has devoured the open pastures.
Footnotes
- Joel 1:1 The prophet convokes the ancients, the chiefs of the villages. In some harrowing images, he evokes the disaster without compare: an invasion of locusts, which wreaks more devastation than an invasion by an army.
- Joel 1:13 In the midst of stupor and distress, one turns toward God; for in the eyes of the prophet and his contemporaries, suffering a calamity was a sign of heaven’s wrath. May everyone take part in a grand liturgy: mourning, fasting, and praying must prepare hearts for a true conversion.
- Joel 1:15 The day of the Lord is that of a judgment: which one often imagines under the form of a general catastrophe preceding the reestablishment of the reign of God. Almighty: i.e., an ancient biblical name for God (El-shaddai) used here because of its play on words in Hebrew.
Joel 1
New International Version
Joel 1
New International Version
1 The word of the Lord that came(A) to Joel(B) son of Pethuel.
An Invasion of Locusts
2 Hear 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)
3 Tell it to your children,(G)
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.(H)
4 What 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)
5 Wake 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.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;(N)
it has the teeth(O) of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It 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.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(R)
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain 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.
10 The 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)
11 Despair, you farmers,(X)
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,(Y)
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.(Z)
12 The 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.
A Call to Lamentation
13 Put on sackcloth,(AD) you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister(AE) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(AF)
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(AG)
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land(AH)
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out(AI) to the Lord.(AJ)
15 Alas for that(AK) day!
For the day of the Lord(AL) is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[c](AM)
16 Has not the food been cut off(AN)
before our very eyes—
joy and gladness(AO)
from the house of our God?(AP)
17 The seeds are shriveled
beneath the clods.[d](AQ)
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan!
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;(AR)
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.(AS)
Living Bible (TLB)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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