Chapter 1

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

Hear³ this, ye old men, and give ear,⁵⁴ all ye inhabitants⁶ of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell¹⁶ ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten;¹ and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten;¹ and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.¹

Awake,⁵⁴ ye drunkards, and weep;³ and howl,⁵⁴ all ye drinkers⁶ of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off⁸ from your mouth.

For a nation is come up¹ 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.

He hath laid¹ my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean² bare,¹ and cast [it] away;⁵² the branches thereof are made white.⁵²

Lament³ like a virgin girded⁷ with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off⁹⁰ from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers,¹⁸ mourn.¹

The field is wasted,²⁷ the land mourneth;¹ for the corn is wasted:²⁷ the new wine is dried up,⁵² the oil languisheth.⁴⁹

Be ye ashamed,⁵⁴ O ye husbandmen; howl,⁵⁴ O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.¹

The vine is dried up,⁵² and the fig tree languisheth;⁴⁹ the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, [even] all the trees of the field, are withered:¹ because joy is withered away⁵² from the sons of men.

Gird³ yourselves, and lament,³ ye priests: howl,⁵⁴ ye ministers¹⁸ of the altar: come,³ lie all night³ in sackcloth, ye ministers¹⁸ of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden⁸ from the house of your God.

Sanctify¹⁶ ye a fast, call³ a solemn assembly, gather³ the elders [and] all the inhabitants⁶ of the land [into] the house of the LORD your God, and cry³ unto the LORD,

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.⁴

Is not the meat cut off⁸ before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?

The seed is rotten¹ under their clods, the garners are laid desolate,⁸ the barns are broken down;⁸ for the corn is withered.⁵²

How do the beasts groan!¹² the herds of cattle are perplexed,⁸ because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.⁸

O LORD, to thee will I cry:⁴ for the fire hath devoured¹ the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned¹⁴ all the trees of the field.

The beasts of the field cry⁴ also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up,¹ and the fire hath devoured¹ the pastures of the wilderness.