Joel 1

1The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

2 aHear this, byou elders;
give ear, call inhabitants of the land!
dHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 eTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What fthe cutting locust left,
gthe swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
hthe hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
ithe destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and jwail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of kthe sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6For la nation has come up against my land,
mpowerful and beyond number;
nits teeth are lionsteeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my ofig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin
Or young woman
qwearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 rThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
sThe priests mourn,
tthe ministers of the Lord.
10The fields are destroyed,
uthe ground mourns,
because vthe grain is destroyed,
wthe wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 xBe ashamed,
The Hebrew words for  dry up and  be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike
O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
zbecause the harvest of the field has perished.
12The vine dries up;
aathe fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and abgladness dries up
from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 acPut on sackcloth and lament, adO priests;
aewail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, afpass the night in sackcloth,
agO ministers of my God!
ahBecause grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 aiConsecrate a fast;
ajcall a solemn assembly.
Gather akthe elders
and alall the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
amFor the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty
 Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for  Almighty
it comes.
16Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
aojoy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 apThe seed shrivels under the clods;
The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain

the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because arthe grain has dried up.
18How asthe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.
Or are made desolate

19 To you, auO Lord, I call.
avFor fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
awand flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20Even the beasts of the field axpant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
ayand fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
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