Joel 1:13-20
English Standard Version
A Call to Repentance
13 (A)Put on sackcloth and lament, (B)O priests;
(C)wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, (D)pass the night in sackcloth,
(E)O ministers of my God!
(F)Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 (G)Consecrate a fast;
(H)call a solemn assembly.
Gather (I)the elders
and (J)all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
(K)For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty[a] it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
(L)joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 (M)The seed shrivels under the clods;[b]
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because (N)the grain has dried up.
18 How (O)the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.[c]
19 To you, (P)O Lord, I call.
(Q)For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
(R)and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field (S)pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
(T)and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
Joel 1:13-20
New Living Translation
13 Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests!
Wail, you who serve before the altar!
Come, spend the night in burlap,
you ministers of my God.
For there is no grain or wine
to offer at the Temple of your God.
14 Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together for a solemn meeting.
Bring the leaders
and all the people of the land
into the Temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to him there.
15 The day of the Lord is near,
the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.
How terrible that day will be!
16 Our food disappears before our very eyes.
No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.
17 The seeds die in the parched ground,
and the grain crops fail.
The barns stand empty,
and granaries are abandoned.
18 How the animals moan with hunger!
The herds of cattle wander about confused,
because they have no pasture.
The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery.
19 Lord, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
and flames have burned up all the trees.
20 Even the wild animals cry out to you
because the streams have dried up,
and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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.