1The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
A Plague of Locusts
2Hear this, you elders;
listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3Tell your children about it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children the next generation.
4What the devouring locust has left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust has left,
the young locust has eaten;
and what the young locust has left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;
wail, all you wine drinkers,
because of the sweet wine,
for it has been taken from your mouth.
6For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and without number;
its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has devastated my grapevine
and splintered my fig tree.
It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;
its branches have turned white.
8Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,
mourning for the husband of her youth.
9Grain and drink offerings have been cut off
from the house of the Lord;
the priests, who are ministers of the Lord, mourn.
10The fields are destroyed;
the land grieves;
indeed, the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up;
and the fresh oil fails.
11Be ashamed, you farmers,
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12The grapevine is dried up,
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple —
all the trees of the orchard — have withered.
Indeed, human joy has dried up.
13Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come and spend the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God,
because grain and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim a solemn assembly!
Gather the elders
and all the residents of the land
at the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
The Day of the Lord
15Woe because of that day!
For the day of the Lord is near
and will come as devastation from the Almighty.
16Hasn’t the food been cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17The seeds lie shriveled in their casings.
The storehouses are in ruin,
and the granaries are broken down,
because the grain has withered away.
18How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion
since they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep and goats suffer punishment.
19I call to you, Lord,
for fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have devoured
all the trees of the orchard.
20Even the wild animals cry out to you,
for the river beds are dried up,
and fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness.