5 And I saw lying on the ^[a]open hand of Him Who was seated on the throne a scroll (book) written within and on the back, closed and sealed with seven seals;^(A)

² And I saw a strong angel announcing in a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll? And [who is entitled and deserves and is morally fit] to break its seals?

³ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth [in the realm of the dead, Hades] was able to open the scroll or to take a [single] look at its contents.

⁴ And I wept audibly and bitterly because no one was found fit to open the scroll or to inspect it.

⁵ Then one of the elders [^[b]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] said to me, Stop weeping! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root (Source) of David, has won (has overcome and conquered)! He can open the scroll and break its seven seals!^(B)

⁶ And there between the throne and the four living creatures (beings) and among the elders [^[c]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God [^[d]the sevenfold Holy Spirit] Who have been sent [on duty far and wide] into all the earth.^(C)

⁷ He then went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him Who sat on the throne.

⁸ And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders [^[e]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] prostrated themselves before the Lamb. Each was holding a harp (lute or guitar), and they had golden bowls full of incense (fragrant spices and gums for burning), which are the prayers of God’s people (the saints).

⁹ And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation.^(D)

¹⁰ And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!^(E)

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels on every side of the throne and of the living creatures and the elders [^[f]of the heavenly Sanhedrin], and they numbered ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands,^(F)

¹² Saying in a loud voice, Deserving is the Lamb, Who was sacrificed, to receive all the power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and majesty (glory, splendor) and blessing!

¹³ And I heard every created thing in heaven and on earth and under the earth [in Hades, the place of departed spirits] and on the sea and all that is in it, crying out together, To Him Who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb be ascribed the blessing and the honor and the majesty (glory, splendor) and the power (might and dominion) forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities)!^(G)

¹⁴ Then the four living creatures (beings) said, Amen (so be it)! And the elders [^[g]of the heavenly Sanhedrin] prostrated themselves and worshiped Him Who lives forever and ever.

1 The word of the Lord that came to ^[a]Joel the son of Pethuel.

² Hear this, you aged men, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing as this occurred in your days or even in the days of your fathers?

³ Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

⁴ What the crawling locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten; and what the hopping locust left, the stripping locust has eaten.

⁵ Awake, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the [fresh] sweet juice [of the grape], for it is cut off and removed from your mouth.

⁶ For a [heathen and hostile] nation [of locusts, illustrative of a human foe] has invaded My land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the jaw teeth of a lioness.^(A)

⁷ It has laid waste My vine [symbol of God’s people] and barked and broken My fig tree; it has made them completely bare and thrown them down; their branches are made white.^(B)

⁸ Lament like a virgin [bride] girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth [who has died].

⁹ The meal or cereal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.

¹⁰ The field is laid waste, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the new juice [of the grape] is dried up, the oil fails.

¹¹ Be ashamed, O you tillers of the soil; wail, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

¹² The vine is dried up and the fig tree fails; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple or quince tree, even all the trees of the field are withered, so that joy has withered and fled away from the sons of men.

¹³ Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my [Joel’s] God, for the cereal or meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴ Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land in the house of the Lord, your God, and cry to the Lord [in penitent pleadings].

¹⁵ Alas for the day! For the day of [the judgment of] the Lord is at hand, and as a destructive tempest from the Almighty will it come.^(C)

¹⁶ Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

¹⁷ The seed [grain] rots and shrivels under the clods, the garners are desolate and empty, the barns are in ruins because the grain has failed.

¹⁸ How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed and huddle together because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment (are forsaken and made wretched).

¹⁹ O Lord, to You will I cry, for the fire has devoured the pastures and folds of the plain and the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰ Even the wild beasts of the field pant and cry to You, for the water brooks are dried up and fire has consumed the pastures and folds of the wilderness and the plain.