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13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests!
    Wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God,[a]
    for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.
14 Sanctify a fast.
    Call a solemn assembly.
    Gather the elders,
    and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God,
    and cry to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day!
    For the day of Yahweh is at hand,
    and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes,
    joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds rot under their clods.
    The granaries are laid desolate.
    The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
    The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture.
    Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19 Yahweh, I cry to you,
    For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
    and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you,
    for the water brooks have dried up,
    And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:13 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).

13 Gird yourselves and lament, O priests!
    Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come spend the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God,
because offering and libation
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Solemnize a fast!
    Call an assembly!
Gather the elders,
    all of the inhabitants of the land
in the house of Yahweh your God,
    and cry out to Yahweh.
15 Ah! For the day!
For the day of Yahweh is near.
    It will come like destruction from Shaddai.[a]
16 Is not food cut off
    before our eyes,
from the house of our God,
    joy and gladness?
17 The seeds shrivel under their clods;
    the storehouses are desolate.
The grain storage places are destroyed
    because grain has dried out.
18 How the beasts[b] groan;
    the herds of cattle wander around
because there is no pasture for them;
    the flocks of sheep are in distress.
19 To you, O Yahweh, I cry out,
because fire has devoured
    the pastures of the desert,
and flames[c] burned
    all the trees of the field.
20 Also, the beasts of the field
    long for you,
because the courses of water
    are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the desert.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:15 Often translated “the Almighty”
  2. Joel 1:18 Hebrew “beast”
  3. Joel 1:19 Hebrew “flame”