1 The word of the Lord that came  * to Joel son of Pethuel:

2 Hear this,  * you elders;

listen, all you inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your days  *

or in the days of your ancestors?

3 Tell your children about it,  *

and let your children tell their children,

and their children the next generation.

4 What the devouring locust  * has left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust has left,

the young locust  * has eaten;

and what the young locust has left,

the destroying locust  * has eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards,  * and weep;

wail, all you wine drinkers,

because of the sweet wine,

for it has been taken from your mouth.

6 For a nation has invaded my land,  *

powerful and without number;

its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.  *

7 It has devastated my grapevine

and splintered my fig tree.

It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;

its branches have turned white.

8 Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,  *

mourning for the husband of her youth.

9 Grain and drink offerings have been cut off  *

from the house of the  Lord;

the priests, who are ministers of the  Lord, mourn.  *

10 The fields are destroyed;  *

the land grieves;

indeed, the grain is destroyed;

the new wine is dried up;  *

and the fresh oil fails.  *

11 Be ashamed, you farmers,  *

wail, you vinedressers,  *

over the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished.  *

12 The grapevine is dried up,  *

and the fig tree is withered;

the pomegranate,  * the date palm,  * and the apple  *  —

all the trees of the orchard — have withered.

Indeed, human joy has dried up.  *

13 Dress in sackcloth and lament,  * you priests;  *

wail,  * you ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth,  *

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Announce a sacred fast;  *

proclaim a solemn assembly!

Gather the elders  *

and all the residents of the land

at the house of the  Lord your God,  *

and cry out to the  Lord.  *

15 Woe because of that day!  *

For the day of the  Lord is near

and will come as devastation from the Almighty.  *

16 Hasn’t the food been cut off

before our eyes,  *

joy and gladness  *

from the house of our God?

17 The seeds lie shriveled in their casings.  *,*

The storehouses are in ruin,

and the granaries are broken down,

because the grain has withered away.

18 How the animals groan!  *

The herds of cattle wander in confusion

since they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep and goats suffer punishment.

19 I call to you,  Lord,  *

for fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness,  *

and flames have devoured

all the trees of the orchard.

20 Even the wild animals cry out to  *  you,  *

for the river beds are dried up,  *

and fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness.