Joel 1
Lexham English Bible
1 The word of Yahweh that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
A Lament Over the Land
2 Hear this, O elders,
and give ear, all the inhabitants of the land.
Has this happened in your days?
Or the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell it to your children,
and your children to their children,
and their children to the following generation.
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.
5 Wake up, drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all drinkers of wine, over the new wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 Because a nation has invaded[a] my land,
strong and beyond counting.[b]
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and its fangs are those of a lioness.
7 It has made my vine a desolation,
and my fig tree a completely splintered stump.
It has stripped them bare and thrown them down;
their branches have turned white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.
9 The offering and libation are withheld
from the house[c] of Yahweh.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of Yahweh.
10 The field is destroyed;
the earth mourns
because the grain is destroyed,
the new wine dries up,
the olive oil languishes.
11 Be ashamed, farmers;
Wail, vinedressers,
over the wheat and over the barley,
because the harvest of the field is ruined.
12 The vine withers
and the fig tree droops.
The pomegranate tree, and also the palm tree, the apple tree
—all the trees of the field—are dried up.
Indeed, joy is dried up
among the sons of men.
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.[d]
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[e] 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[f] 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.
Joel 1
Common English Bible
Song of lament
1 The Lord’s word that came to Joel, Pethuel’s son:
2 Hear this, elders;
pay attention, everyone in the land!
Has anything like this ever happened in your days,
or in the days of your ancestors?[a]
3 Tell it to your children,
and have your children tell their children,
and their children tell their children.
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 devouring locust has eaten.[b]
5 Wake up, you who drink too much, and weep.
Scream over the sweet wine,
all you wine drinkers,
because it is snatched from your mouth;
6 because a nation, powerful and beyond number,
has invaded my land.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth;
its fangs are like those of a lioness.
7 It has destroyed my vines,
splintered my fig trees,
stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches have turned white.
8 Lament like a woman dressed in funeral clothing,
one who has lost the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are gone from the Lord’s temple.
The priests and the Lord’s ministers mourn.
10 The fields are devastated,
the ground mourns;
for the grain is destroyed,
the new wine dries up,
the olive oil fails.
11 Be shocked, you farmers;
howl, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
for the crops of the field are destroyed.
12 The grapevine is dried up;
the fig tree withers.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up.
Joy fades away from the people.[c]
Call to mourn
13 Dress for a funeral and grieve, you priests;
lament, ministers of the altar.
Come, spend the night in funeral clothing, servants of my God,
because the grain offering and the drink offering
have gone from the temple of your God.
14 Demand a fast,
request a special assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the land’s people
to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
Time of suffering
15 What a terrible day!
The day of the Lord is near;
it comes like chaos from the Almighty.[d]
16 Isn’t the food cut off
right before our eyes?
Aren’t joy and gladness also gone from our God’s house?
17 The grain shrivels under the shovels;[e]
the barns are empty.
The granaries are in ruin
because the grain has dried up.
18 How the animals groan!
Herds of cattle are in distress
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep pant.
The prophet’s prayer
19 To you, Lord, I cry,
for fire has completely destroyed
the pastures of the wilderness;
and flames have burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the field’s wild animals cry to you
because the streams have dried up;
the fire has completely destroyed
the meadows of the wilderness.
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