Joel 1

 

 ¹ The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

An Invasion of Locusts

 ² Hear this, you elders;
       listen, all who live in the land.
       Has anything like this ever happened in your days
       or in the days of your forefathers?

 

 ³ Tell it to your children,
       and let your children tell it to their children,
       and their children to the next generation.

 

 ⁴ What the locust swarm has left
       the great locusts have eaten;
       what the great locusts have left
       the young locusts have eaten;
       what the young locusts have left
       other locusts ^[a] have eaten.

 

 ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
       Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
       wail because of the new wine,
       for it has been snatched from your lips.

 

 ⁶ A nation has invaded my land,
       powerful and without number;
       it has the teeth of a lion,
       the fangs of a lioness.

 

 ⁷ It has laid waste my vines
       and ruined my fig trees.
       It has stripped off their bark
       and thrown it away,
       leaving their branches white.

 

 ⁸ Mourn like a virgin ^[b] in sackcloth
       grieving for the husband ^[c] of her youth.

 

 ⁹ Grain offerings and drink offerings
       are cut off from the house of the LORD.
       The priests are in mourning,
       those who minister before the LORD.

 

 ¹⁰ The fields are ruined,
       the ground is dried up ^[d] ;
       the grain is destroyed,
       the new wine is dried up,
       the oil fails.

 

 ¹¹ Despair, you farmers,
       wail, you vine growers;
       grieve for the wheat and the barley,
       because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

 

 ¹² The vine is dried up
       and the fig tree is withered;
       the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree—
       all the trees of the field—are dried up.
       Surely the joy of mankind
       is withered away.

A Call to Repentance

 ¹³ Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
       wail, you who minister before the altar.
       Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
       you who minister before my God;
       for the grain offerings and drink offerings
       are withheld from the house of your God.

 

 ¹⁴ Declare a holy fast;
       call a sacred assembly.
       Summon the elders
       and all who live in the land
       to the house of the LORD your God,
       and cry out to the LORD.

 

 ¹⁵ Alas for that day!
       For the day of the LORD is near;
       it will come like destruction from the Almighty. ^[e]

 

 ¹⁶ Has not the food been cut off
       before our very eyes—
       joy and gladness
       from the house of our God?

 

 ¹⁷ The seeds are shriveled
       beneath the clods. ^[f]
       The storehouses are in ruins,
       the granaries have been broken down,
       for the grain has dried up.

 

 ¹⁸ How the cattle moan!
       The herds mill about
       because they have no pasture;
       even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

 

 ¹⁹ To you, O LORD, I call,
       for fire has devoured the open pastures
       and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

 

 ²⁰ Even the wild animals pant for you;
       the streams of water have dried up
       and fire has devoured the open pastures.

Joel 2

An Army of Locusts

 ¹ Blow the trumpet in Zion;
       sound the alarm on my holy hill.
       Let all who live in the land tremble,
       for the day of the LORD is coming.
       It is close at hand-

 

 ² a day of darkness and gloom,
       a day of clouds and blackness.
       Like dawn spreading across the mountains
       a large and mighty army comes,
       such as never was of old
       nor ever will be in ages to come.

 

 ³ Before them fire devours,
       behind them a flame blazes.
       Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
       behind them, a desert waste—
       nothing escapes them.

 

 ⁴ They have the appearance of horses;
       they gallop along like cavalry.

 

 ⁵ With a noise like that of chariots
       they leap over the mountaintops,
       like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
       like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

 

 ⁶ At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
       every face turns pale.

 

 ⁷ They charge like warriors;
       they scale walls like soldiers.
       They all march in line,
       not swerving from their course.

 

 ⁸ They do not jostle each other;
       each marches straight ahead.
       They plunge through defenses
       without breaking ranks.

 

 ⁹ They rush upon the city;
       they run along the wall.
       They climb into the houses;
       like thieves they enter through the windows.

 

 ¹⁰ Before them the earth shakes,
       the sky trembles,
       the sun and moon are darkened,
       and the stars no longer shine.

 

 ¹¹ The LORD thunders
       at the head of his army;
       his forces are beyond number,
       and mighty are those who obey his command.
       The day of the LORD is great;
       it is dreadful.
       Who can endure it?

Rend Your Heart

 ¹² "Even now," declares the LORD,
       "return to me with all your heart,
       with fasting and weeping and mourning."

 

 ¹³ Rend your heart
       and not your garments.
       Return to the LORD your God,
       for he is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and abounding in love,
       and he relents from sending calamity.

 

 ¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and have pity
       and leave behind a blessing—
       grain offerings and drink offerings
       for the LORD your God.

 

 ¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
       declare a holy fast,
       call a sacred assembly.

 

 ¹⁶ Gather the people,
       consecrate the assembly;
       bring together the elders,
       gather the children,
       those nursing at the breast.
       Let the bridegroom leave his room
       and the bride her chamber.

 

 ¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
       weep between the temple porch and the altar.
       Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
       Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
       a byword among the nations.
       Why should they say among the peoples,
       'Where is their God?' "

 

 

Footnotes:

1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
2. Joel 1:8 Or young woman
3. Joel 1:8 Or betrothed
4. Joel 1:10 Or ground mourns
5. Joel 1:15 Hebrew Shaddai
6. Joel 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.