Joel

Joel, chapter 1, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 1 New English Translation

Introduction

   1 This is the LORD's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel:

A Locust Plague Foreshadows the Day of the LORD

   2 Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors?
   3 Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation.
   4 What the gazam-locust left the 'arbeh-locust consumed, what the 'arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!
   5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you.
   6 For a nation has invaded our land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. Their teeth are like those of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness.
   7 They have destroyed our vines; they have turned our fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark and thrown them aside; the twigs are stripped bare.

A Call to Lament

   8 Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be.
   9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the LORD anymore. So the priests, those who serve the LORD, are in mourning.
   10 The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes.
   11 Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.
   12 The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes - the pomegranate, date, and apple as well. In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up!
   13 Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore.
   14 Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
   15 How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.
   16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God!
   17 The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
   18 Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
   19 To you, O LORD, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields.
   20 Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

King James Version

   1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
   2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
   3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
   4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
   5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
   6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
   7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
   8 ¶ Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
   9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.
   10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
   11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
   12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
   13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
   14 ¶ Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
   15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
   16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
   17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
   18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
   19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
   20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.