Song of lament

¹The LORD ’s word that came to Joel, Pethuel’s son:

²Hear this, elders;

pay attention, everyone in the land!

Has anything like this ever happened in your days,

or in the days of your ancestors?

³Tell it to your children,

and have your children tell their children,

and their children tell their children.

⁴What 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.

⁵Wake up, you who drink too much, and weep.

Scream over the sweet wine,

all you wine drinkers,

because it is snatched from your mouth;

⁶because a nation, powerful and beyond number,

Its teeth are like lions’ teeth;

its fangs are like those of a lioness.

⁷It has destroyed my vines,

splintered my fig trees,

stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches have turned white.

⁸Lament like a woman dressed in funeral clothing,

one who has lost the husband of her youth.

⁹The grain offering and the drink offering are gone from the LORD ’s temple.

The priests and the LORD ’s ministers mourn.

¹⁰The fields are devastated,

for the grain is destroyed,

¹¹Be shocked, you farmers;

howl, you vinedressers,

for the crops of the field are destroyed.

¹²The 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.

Call to mourn

¹³Dress for a funeral and grieve, you priests;

Come, spend the night in funeral clothing, servants of my God,

because the grain offering and the drink offering

¹⁴Demand a fast,

Gather the elders

Time of suffering

¹⁵What a terrible day!

The day of the LORD is near;

¹⁶Isn’t the food cut off

right before our eyes?

Aren’t joy and gladness also gone from our God’s house?

¹⁷The grain shrivels under the shovels;[#1.17 Heb uncertain]

the barns are empty.

The granaries are in ruin

because the grain has dried up.

¹⁸How the animals groan!

Herds of cattle are in distress

even the flocks of sheep pant.

The prophet’s prayer

¹⁹To you, LORD , I cry,

for fire has completely destroyed

and flames have burned

²⁰Even the field’s wild animals cry to you

the fire has completely destroyed