Joel 1
Tree of Life Version
1 The word of Adonai that came to Joel the son of Pethuel:
Mourn the Land’s Destruction
2 Hear this, elders!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
Has this ever happened in your days,
or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it—
your children to their children,
their children to another generation.
4 What the locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten,
and what the swarming locust left,
the canker-worm has eaten,
and what the canker-worm left,
the caterpillar has eaten.
5 Awake, drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine—
on account of sweet wine,
for it is denied to your mouth!
6 For a nation has invaded my land.
Vast—yes, without number!
Its teeth are lion’s teeth,
with jaw-teeth of a lioness.[a]
7 He has turned my vine to waste
and my fig tree to splinters.
He has stripped off all the bark
and flung it down—
its branches are left white.
8 Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth!
9 Grain offering and drink offering
are cut off from the House of Adonai.
Kohanim—ministers of Adonai—mourn.
10 The field is ruined, the land grieves,
for the grain has been devastated,
new wine is dried up, oil languishes.
11 Be ashamed, O ploughmen;
wail, O vinedressers,
over wheat and over barley,
for the harvest of the field is lost.
12 The vine withered, the fig tree wilted.
Pomegranate, palm and apple tree
—all trees of the field—are withered,
for joy has withered away
from the children of men.
13 Gird yourselves and weep, kohanim!
Howl, ministers of the altar!
Come, lie in sackcloth all night,
ministers of my God.
For grain and drink offering are withheld
from the House of your God.
The Day is Near!
14 Consecrate a fast.
Proclaim a solemn assembly.
Gather elders and all living in the land
to the House of Adonai your God,
and cry to Adonai.
15 Ah, the day!
The day of Adonai is near!
As havoc from Shaddai it will come.
16 Is food not cut off before our eyes—
joy and gladness from God’s House?
17 Seed has shriveled under the dirt clod.
Storehouses are desolate,
granaries are torn down,
for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed,
because they have no pasture.
The flocks of sheep also suffer.
19 To You, Adonai, I cry!
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has set ablaze all the trees of the field.
20 Also beasts of the field pant toward You.
For the water of wadis are dried up,
and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Footnotes
- Joel 1:6 cf. Rev. 9:7-8.
Joel 1
New Century Version
Locusts Destroy the Crops
1 The Lord spoke his word to Joel son of Pethuel:
2 Elders, listen to this message.
Listen to me, all you who live in the land.
Nothing like this has ever happened during your lifetime
or during your ancestors’ lifetimes.
3 Tell your children about these things,
let your children tell their children,
and let your grandchildren tell their children.
4 What the cutting locusts have left,
the swarming locusts have eaten;
what the swarming locusts have left,
the hopping locusts have eaten,
and what the hopping locusts have left,
the destroying locusts[a] have eaten.
5 Drunks, wake up and cry!
All you people who drink wine, cry!
Cry because your wine
has been taken away from your mouths.
6 A powerful nation has come into my land
with too many soldiers to count.
It has teeth like a lion,
jaws like a female lion.
7 It has made my grapevine a waste
and made my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped all the bark off my trees
and left the branches white.
8 Cry as a young woman cries
when the man she was going to marry has died.
9 There will be no more grain or drink offerings
to offer in the Temple of the Lord.
Because of this, the priests,
the servants of the Lord, are sad.
10 The fields are ruined;
the ground is dried up.
The grain is destroyed,
the new wine is dried up,
and the olive oil runs out.
11 Be sad, farmers.
Cry loudly, you who grow grapes.
Cry for the wheat and the barley.
Cry because the harvest of the field is lost.
12 The vines have become dry,
and the fig trees are dried up.
The pomegranate trees, the date palm trees, the apple trees—
all the trees in the field have died.
And the happiness of the people has died, too.
13 Priests, put on your rough cloth and cry to show your sadness.
Servants of the altar, cry out loud.
Servants of my God,
keep your rough cloth on all night to show your sadness.
Cry because there will be no more grain or drink offerings
to offer in the Temple of your God.
14 Call for a day when everyone fasts!
Tell everyone to stop work!
Bring the elders
and everyone who lives in the land
to the Temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 What a terrible day it will be!
The Lord’s day of judging is near,
when punishment will come
like a destroying attack from the Almighty.
16 Our food is taken away
while we watch.
Joy and happiness are gone
from the Temple of our God.
17 Though we planted fig seeds,
they lie dry and dead in the dirt.
The barns are empty and falling down.
The storerooms for grain have been broken down,
because the grain has dried up.
18 The animals are groaning!
The herds of cattle wander around confused,
because they have no grass to eat;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 Lord, I am calling to you for help,
because fire has burned up the open pastures,
and flames have burned all the trees in the field.
20 Wild animals also need your help.
The streams of water have dried up,
and fire has burned up the open pastures.
Footnotes
- 1:4 cutting . . . locusts These are different names for an insect like a large grasshopper. The locust can quickly destroy trees, plants, and crops, and in this destruction, Joel sees a warning. God will cause this type of destruction when he punishes his people.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
