Joel 1
1. The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2. Hear * this, ye old men, and give ear * , all ye inhabitants * of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3. Tell * ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten * ; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten * ; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten * .
5. Awake * , ye drunkards, and weep * ; and howl * , all ye drinkers * of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off * from your mouth.
6. For a nation is come up * upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7. He hath laid * my vine waste,and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean * bare * , and cast it away * ; the branches thereof are made white * .
8. Lament * like a virgin girded * with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off * from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers * , mourn * .
10. The field is wasted * , the land mourneth * ; for the corn is wasted * : the new wine is dried up * , the oil languisheth * .
11. Be ye ashamed * , O ye husbandmen; howl * , O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished * .
12. The vine is dried up * , and the fig tree languisheth * ; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree,even all the trees of the field, are withered * : because joy is withered away * from the sons of men.
13. Gird * yourselves, and lament * , ye priests: howl * , ye ministers * of the altar: come * , lie all night * in sackcloth, ye ministers * of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden * from the house of your God.
14. Sanctify * ye a fast, call * a solemn assembly, gather * the elders and all the inhabitants * of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry * unto the LORD,
15. Alas for the day ! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come * .
16. Is not the meat cut off * before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17. The seed is rotten * under their clods, the garners are laid desolate * , the barns are broken down * ; for the corn is withered * .
18. How do the beasts groan * ! the herds of cattle are perplexed * , because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate * .
19. O LORD, to thee will I cry * : for the fire hath devoured * the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned * all the trees of the field.
20. The beasts of the field cry * also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up * , and the fire hath devoured * the pastures of the wilderness.
