1:1 The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.

1:2 Hear these [words], ye elders, and hearken all ye that inhabit the land. Have such things happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

1:3 Tell your children concerning them, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.

1:4 The leavings of the caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten.

1:5 Awake, ye drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all ye that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness and removed are from your mouth.

1:6 For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land, their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth those of a [lion's] whelp.

1:7 He has ruined my vine, and utterly broken my fig-trees: he has utterly searched [my vine], and cast it down; he has peeled its branches.

1:8 Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

1:9 The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord: mourn, ye priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.

1:10 For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;

1:11 the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field.

1:12 The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm-tree, and apple, and all trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men have abolished joy.

1:13 Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, ye priests: mourn, ye that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, ye that minister to God: for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God.

1:14 Sanctify a fast, proclaim a [solemn] service, gather the elders [and] all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,

1:15 Alas, Alas, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is nigh, and it will come as trouble upon trouble.

1:16 [Your] meat has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and gladness from out of the house of your God.

1:17 The heifers have started at their mangers, the treasures are abolished, the wine-presses are broken down; for the corn is withered.

1:18 What shall we store up for ourselves? the herds of cattle have mourned, because they had no pasture; and the flocks of sheep have been utterly destroyed.

1:19 To thee, O Lord, will I cry: for fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up all the trees of the field.

1:20 And the cattle of the field have looked up to thee: for the fountains of waters have been dried up, and fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness.

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

1:2 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?

1:3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

1:4 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.

1:5 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.

1:6 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.

1:7 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.

1:8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

1:9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

1:10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

1:11 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.

1:12 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.

1:13 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.

1:14 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,

1:15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

1:16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

1:17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

1:18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

1:19 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.

1:20 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.