¹The LORD ’s word that came to Joel , the son of Pethuel .[#1:1 When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “”, usually pronounced Yahweh).]

²Hear this , you elders ,

and listen , all you inhabitants of the land!

Has this ever happened in your days ,

or in the days of your fathers?

³Tell your children about it ,

and have your children tell their children ,

and their children , another generation .

⁴What the swarming locust has left , the great locust has eaten.

What the great locust has left , the grasshopper has eaten.

What the grasshopper has left , the caterpillar has eaten.

⁵Wake up , you drunkards , and weep !

Wail , all you drinkers of wine , because of the sweet wine ,

for it is cut off from your mouth .

⁶For a nation has come up on my land, strong , and without number .

His teeth are the teeth of a lion ,

and he has the fangs of a lioness .

⁷He has laid my vine waste ,

and stripped my fig tree .

He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away .

Its branches are made white .

⁸Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth

for the husband of her youth !

⁹The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the LORD ’s house .

The priests , the LORD ’s ministers , mourn.

¹⁰The field is laid waste .

The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed ,

The new wine has dried up ,

and the oil languishes.

¹¹Be confounded, you farmers!

Wail , you vineyard keepers,

for the wheat and for the barley ;

for the harvest of the field has perished.

¹²The vine has dried up , and the fig tree withered —

the pomegranate tree , the palm tree also , and the apple tree ,

even all of the trees of the field are withered ;

for joy has withered away from the sons of men .

¹³Put on sackcloth and mourn , you priests !

Wail , you ministers of the altar .

Come , lie all night in sackcloth , you ministers of my God,

for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house .

¹⁴Sanctify a fast .

Call a solemn assembly .

Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD , your God ,

and cry to the LORD .

¹⁵Alas for the day !

For the day of the LORD is at hand ,

and it will come as destruction from the Almighty .

¹⁶Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes ,

joy and gladness from the house of our God ?

¹⁷The seeds rot under their clods .

The granaries are laid desolate .

The barns are broken down , for the grain has withered .

¹⁸How the animals groan!

The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture .

Yes , the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

¹⁹LORD , I cry to you ,

for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness ,

and the flame has burnt all the trees of the field .

²⁰Yes , the animals of the field pant to you ,

for the water brooks have dried up ,

and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness .