1The word of Jehovah, which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2Hear this, ye old men; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land! Hath such a thing happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?

3Tell ye your children of it, And let your children tell their children, And their children another generation!

4That which the gnawing-locust left hath the swarming-locust eaten, And that which the swarming-locust left hath the licking-locust eaten, And that which the licking-locust left hath the consuming-locust eaten.

5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep! Howl, all ye drinkers of wine, For the new wine, which is snatched from your mouths!

6For a nation hath come up on my land, Strong, and not to be numbered; Their teeth are the teeth of the lion; They have the jaw-teeth of the lioness.

7They have made my vine a desolation, And my fig-tree a broken branch; They have made it quite bare and cast it away; The branches thereof are made white.

8Lament ye, like a bride, Clothed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!

9The flour-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; The priests, the servants of Jehovah mourn.

10The field is laid waste; The ground mourneth, For the corn is laid waste; The new wine is dried up; The oil languisheth.

11Lament, O ye husbandmen, Howl, O ye vine-dressers, For the wheat and the barley, For the harvest of the field hath perished!

12The vine is dried up, And the fig-tree languisheth; The pomegranate, the palm-tree, and the apple-tree,—All the trees of the field, are withered; Yea, joy is withered away from the sons of men.

13Gird yourselves with sackcloth and mourn, ye priests! Howl, ye ministers of the altar! Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God, For the flour-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God!

14Appoint ye a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of Jehovah, your God, And cry unto Jehovah!

15Alas, alas the day! For the day of Jehovah is near; Even as destruction from the Almighty doth it come.

16Is not our food cut off from before our eyes, Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17The seeds are rotten under their clods, The storehouses are laid desolate, the garners are destroyed; For the corn is withered.

18How do the beasts groan, How do the herds of oxen wander perplexed, Having no pasture! The flocks of sheep also are destroyed.

19To thee, O Jehovah, do I call, For a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert, And a flame hath burned all the trees of the field!

20The beasts of the field, also, cry unto thee, For the streams of water are dried up, And a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert!