Joel 1

1The word of the Lord came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all of you inhabiting the land. Have such things happened in your days or in the days of your fathers?

3Tell your children about this, and your children to their children, and their children to the next generation.

4What the caterpillars have left is eaten by the grasshopper, and what the grasshoppers have left is eaten by the locust, and what the locusts have left is infected with red blight.

5Get sober, you who are drunk from your wine, and weep, mourn all you who drink wine, for joy and gladness are removed from your mouth.

6For a nation strong and numberless came up against My land. His teeth are the teeth of a lion and his molars those of a young lion.

7He laid waste My vine and splintered My fig tree. He diligently searched out and uprooted My vine, peeling off its outer bark.

8Mourn before Me more than a virgin bride clothed with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9The meat-offering and the drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord. Mourn, you priests, you who serve at the altar,

10for the fields languish and the land mourns; for the grain withers, the wine is dried up, and the olive oil is scarce.

11The farmers are exhausted. Mourn for the sake of your fields of wheat and barley, for the harvest from the field has been lost.

12The vine is shriveled up, and the fig trees are scarce in number. The pomegranate and the palm tree, the apple tree and all the trees of the field are withered, for they put to shame the delight of the sons of men.

13Gird yourself with sackcloth and wail, you priests. Mourn, you who serve at the altar. Go in, sleep in sackcloth, you who minister unto God, for the grain-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God.

14Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather all the elders and all the people of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out fervently to the Lord.

15Alas! Alas! Alas! For the day of the Lord draws near, and it will come as misery upon misery.

16The food is completely destroyed before your eyes; joy and gladness are removed from the house of your God.

17The heifers are restless in their stalls, and the storehouses are emptied. The winepresses are broken down; the grain is withered.

18What will we store up for ourselves? The herds of cattle groaned because there was no pasture, and the flocks of sheep are no more.

19O Lord, I will cry out to You, for fire has devoured the pleasant places of the wilderness, and a flame burned all the trees of the field.

20And the cattle of the field also look up to You, because the brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pleasant places of the wilderness.