Joel 1:2-12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Lament over the Ruin of the Country
2 Hear this, O elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?(A)
3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.(B)
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.(C)
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you wine drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.(D)
7 It has laid waste my vines
and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches have turned white.(E)
8 Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.(F)
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the Lord.(G)
10 The fields are devastated,
the ground mourns,
for the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil fails.(H)
11 Be dismayed, you farmers;
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
for the crops of the field are ruined.(I)
12 The vine withers;
the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
among the people.(J)
Joel 1:2-12
Christian Standard Bible
A Plague of Locusts
2 Hear this,(A) you elders;
listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days(B)
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about it,(C)
and let your children tell their children,
and their children the next generation.
4 What the devouring locust(D) has left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust has left,
the young locust(E) has eaten;
and what the young locust has left,
the destroying locust(F) has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards,(G) and weep;
wail, all you wine drinkers,
because of the sweet wine,
for it has been taken from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land,(H)
powerful and without number;
its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.(I)
7 It has devastated my grapevine
and splintered my fig tree.
It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;
its branches have turned white.
8 Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,(J)
mourning for the husband of her youth.
9 Grain and drink offerings have been cut off(K)
from the house of the Lord;
the priests, who are ministers of the Lord, mourn.(L)
10 The fields are destroyed;(M)
the land grieves;
indeed, the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up;(N)
and the fresh oil fails.(O)
11 Be ashamed, you farmers,(P)
wail, you vinedressers,[a]
over the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.(Q)
12 The grapevine is dried up,(R)
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate,(S) the date palm,(T) and the apple(U)—
all the trees of the orchard—have withered.
Indeed, human joy has dried up.(V)
Footnotes
- 1:11 Or The farmers are dismayed, the vinedressers wail
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.