An Invasion of Locusts

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)
Tell it to your children,(E)
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.(F)
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)

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.
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.
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.

Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(P)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
  2. Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot

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]
Tell it to your children,
    and have your children tell their children,
    and their children tell their children.
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]
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;
    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.
It has destroyed my vines,
    splintered my fig trees,
    stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches have turned white.
Lament like a woman dressed in funeral clothing,
    one who has lost the husband of her youth.
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]

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:2 Or your fathers
  2. Joel 1:4 The Heb uses several different words for locust; none of the meanings are identical.
  3. Joel 1:12 Or from the sons of men; cf 2:1 Heb the people of the land