Joel 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to *Acts 2:16Joel the son of Pethuel.

The Land Laid Waste

2 Hear this, you elders,

And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!

*Jer. 30:7; Joel 2:2Has anythinglike this happened in your days,

Or even in the days of your fathers?

3 *Ex. 10:2; Ps. 78:4; Is. 38:19Tell your children about it,

Let your children tell their children,

And their children another generation.

4 *Deut. 28:38; Joel 2:25; Amos 4:9What the chewing locust left, the *Is. 33:4swarming locust has eaten;

What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;

And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you *Is. 5:11; 28:1; Hos. 7:5drunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you drinkers of wine,

Because of the new wine,

*Is. 32:10For it has been cut off from your mouth.

6 For *Prov. 30:25; Joel 2:2, 11, 25a nation has come up against My land,

Strong, and without number;

*Rev. 9:8His teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.

7 He has *Is. 5:6; Amos 4:9laid waste My vine,

And ruined My fig tree;

He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;

Its branches are made white.

8 *Is. 22:12Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth

For *Prov. 2:17; Jer. 3:4the husband of her youth.

9 *Hos. 9:4; Joel 1:13; 2:14The grain offering and the drink offering

Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;

The priests *Joel 2:17mourn, who minister to the Lord.

10 The field is wasted,

*Jer. 12:11; Hos. 3:4The land mourns;

For the grain is ruined,

*Is. 24:7The new wine is dried up,

The oil fails.

11 *Jer. 14:3, 4; Amos 5:16Be ashamed, you farmers,

Wail, you vinedressers,

For the wheat and the barley;

Because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 *Joel 1:10; Hab. 3:17The vine has dried up,

And the fig tree has withered;

The pomegranate tree,

The palm tree also,

And the apple tree—

All the trees of the field are withered;

Surely *Is. 16:10; 24:11; Jer. 48:33joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Mourning for the Land

13 *Jer. 4:8; Ezek. 7:18Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;

Wail, you who minister before the altar;

Come, lie all night in sackcloth,

You who minister to my God;

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

14 *2 Chr. 20:3; Joel 2:15, 16Consecrate a fast,

Call *Lev. 23:36a sacred assembly;

Gather the elders

And*2 Chr. 20:13all the inhabitants of the land

Into the house of the Lord your God,

And cry out to the Lord.

15 *(Is. 13:9; Jer. 30:7); Amos 5:16Alas for the day!

For *Is. 13:6; Ezek. 7:2–12the day of the Lordis at hand;

It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Is not the food *Is. 3:1; Amos 4:6cut off before our eyes,

*Deut. 12:7; Ps. 43:4Joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seed shrivels under the clods,

Storehouses are in shambles;

Barns are broken down,

For the grain has withered.

18 How *1 Kin. 8:5; Jer. 12:4; 14:5, 6; Hos. 4:3the animals groan!

The herds of cattle are restless,

Because they have no pasture;

Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

19 O Lord, *(Ps. 50:15); Mic. 7:7to You I cry out;

For *Jer. 9:10; Amos 7:4fire has devoured the open pastures,

And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.

20 The beasts of the field also *Job 38:41; Ps. 104:21; 147:9; Joel 1:18cry out to You,

For *1 Kin. 17:7; 18:5the water brooks are dried up,

And fire has devoured the open pastures.