Joel 1:2-12
Expanded Bible
2 Elders, listen to this message.
·Listen to [Hear] me, all you who live in the land.
·Nothing like this has [L Has anything like this…?] ever happened ·during your lifetime [L in your days]
or during your ·ancestors’ [fathers’] ·lifetimes [L days].
3 Tell your children about these things,
let your children tell their children,
and let ·your grandchildren [L their children] tell ·their children [the next generation].
4 What the ·cutting [chewing; or swarming] locusts have left,
the ·swarming [or great] locusts have eaten;
what the ·swarming [or great] locusts have left,
the ·hopping [or crawling; or young] locusts have eaten,
and what the ·hopping [or crawling; or young] locusts have left,
the ·destroying [consuming] locusts have eaten [C these Hebrew terms could mean different species, different stages of development, or different destructive actions; they symbolize God’s judgment against Israel through foreign invaders].
5 Drunks, wake up and ·cry [weep]!
All you ·people who drink wine [wine-drinkers], ·cry [wail]!
Cry because your ·wine [sweet/new wine]
has been ·taken away [snatched; L cut off] from your mouths.
6 A ·powerful [mighty] nation has ·come into [invaded; come up against] my land
·with too many soldiers to count [L without number].
It has teeth like a lion,
·jaws [fangs] like a ·female lion [lioness].
7 It has made my grapevine a waste
and made my fig tree ·a stump [or splintered].
It has ·stripped all [L stripped and thrown away] the bark off my trees
and left the branches white.
8 ·Cry [Lament; Wail] as a young woman ·cries [L clothed in sackcloth]
·when the man she was going to marry has died [L for the husband/or betrothed of her youth].
9 ·There will be no more grain or drink offerings
to offer in [L The grain/gift/tribute (Lev. 2:1) and drink offerings are cut off from] the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord.
Because of this, the priests,
the servants of the Lord, are ·sad [in mourning].
10 The fields are ·ruined [destroyed];
the ground ·is dried up [or mourns].
·The [L …because the] grain is destroyed,
the new wine is dried up,
and the olive oil ·runs out [fails].
11 Be ·sad [in despair; or ashamed; embarrassed], farmers.
·Cry loudly [Wail], you who grow grapes.
Cry for the wheat and the barley.
Cry because the harvest of the field is ·lost [ruined; destroyed].
12 The vines have ·become dry [dried up],
and the fig trees ·are dried up [have withered/languish].
The pomegranate trees, the date palm trees, the apple trees—
all the trees in the field ·have died [are dried up].
And the ·happiness [joy; gladness] of the ·people [L sons/children of man/humanity] has died, too.
Joel 1:2-12
New American Standard Bible
2 (A)Hear this, you (B)elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
(C)Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or in your fathers’ days?
3 (D)Tell your sons about it,
And have your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
4 What the (E)gnawing locust has left, the [a]swarming locust has eaten;
And what the (F)swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the (G)stripping locust has eaten.
5 Awake, (H)you heavy drinkers, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
Because of the sweet wine,
For it has been (I)eliminated from your mouth.
6 For a (J)nation has [b]invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
(K)Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the jaws of a lioness.
7 It has (L)made my vine a waste
And my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;
Their branches have become white.
8 (M)Wail like a virgin (N)clothed with sackcloth
For the groom of her youth.
9 The (O)grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off
From the house of the Lord.
The (P)priests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord.
10 The field is (Q)ruined,
(R)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine has dried up,
Fresh oil has [c]failed.
11 (S)Be ashamed, you farm workers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the (T)harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The (U)vine has dried up
And the fig tree has withered;
The (V)pomegranate, the (W)palm also, and the (X)apple tree,
All the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, (Y)joy has dried up
From the sons of mankind.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
