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Joel 1:2-12
New International Version
Joel 1:2-12
New International Version
An Invasion of Locusts
2 Hear this,(A) you elders;(B)
listen, all who live in the land.(C)
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?(D)
3 Tell it to your children,(E)
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.(F)
4 What the locust(G) 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(H)
other locusts[a] have eaten.(I)
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine;(J)
wail because of the new wine,
for it has been snatched(K) from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;(L)
it has the teeth(M) of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste(N) my vines
and ruined my fig trees.(O)
It has stripped off their bark
and thrown it away,
leaving their branches white.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(P)
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9 Grain offerings and drink offerings(Q)
are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,(R)
those who minister before the Lord.
10 The fields are ruined,
the ground is dried up;(S)
the grain is destroyed,
the new wine(T) is dried up,
the olive oil fails.(U)
11 Despair, you farmers,(V)
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,(W)
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.(X)
12 The vine is dried up
and the fig tree is withered;(Y)
the pomegranate,(Z) the palm and the apple[b] tree—
all the trees of the field—are dried up.(AA)
Surely the people’s joy
is withered away.
Joel 1:2-12
New Living Translation
Joel 1:2-12
New Living Translation
Mourning over the Locust Plague
2 Hear this, you leaders of the people.
Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
has anything like this happened before?
3 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.
4 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!
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
and all your sweet wine is gone.
6 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.
7 It has destroyed my grapevines
and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
leaving the branches white and bare.
8 Weep like a bride dressed in black,
mourning the death of her husband.
9 For there is no grain or wine
to offer at the Temple of the Lord.
So the priests are in mourning.
The ministers of the Lord are weeping.
10 The fields are ruined,
the land is stripped bare.
The grain is destroyed,
the grapes have shriveled,
and the olive oil is gone.
11 Despair, all you farmers!
Wail, all you vine growers!
Weep, because the wheat and barley—
all the crops of the field—are ruined.
12 The grapevines have dried up,
and the fig trees have withered.
The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees—
all the fruit trees—have dried up.
And the people’s joy has dried up with them.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.