The Invasion of Locusts

1The word of YHWH that came to Joel son of Pethuel:

2Hear this, O elders,

and give ear, all dwellers of the land.

Has this come to be in your⁺ days,

or even in the days of your⁺ fathers?

3Give account of it to your⁺ sons,

and your⁺ sons to their sons,

and their sons to the generation after.

4The remainder of the devouring locust

the swarming locust has eaten;

and the remainder of the swarming locust

the young locust has eaten;

and the remainder of the young locust

the destroying locust has eaten.†

5Wake up, O drunkards, and weep;

wail, all drinkers of wine,

over the new wine,

for it has been cut off from your⁺ mouth!

6For a nation has come up against My land,

strong and without number;

his teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and the fangs of a fierce lion are unto him.

7He has set My vine to waste,

and My fig tree to splinter;

he has thoroughly stripped off the bark and thrown it away,

its branches have become white.

A Call to Mourning

8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth

over the husband of her youth.

9The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off

from the house of YHWH;

the priests mourn—

those ministering to YHWH.

10The field is ruined,

the land mourns;

for the grain is ruined,

the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.

11Be ashamed, O farmers,

wail, O vinedressers,

over the wheat and over the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished.

12The vine has withered

and the fig tree has languished;

the pomegranate, also the palm tree and the apple tree—

all the trees of the field—have dried up.

For the joy of the sons of man has withered away.

A Call to Repentance
(Amos 5:4–15; Zephaniah 2:1–3; Luke 13:1–5)

13Gird yourselves and lament, O priests;

wail, you ministering before the altar.

Come, lodge in sackcloth,

you ministering before my God,

for it is withheld from the house of your⁺ God—

the grain offering and the drink offering.

14Consecrate a fast,

call a solemn assembly!

Gather the elders

and all those dwelling in the land

to the house of YHWH your⁺ God,

and cry out to YHWH.

15Alas, for the day!

For the day of YHWH is near,

and as destruction from Shaddai,†

it shall come.

16Has not before our eyes

the food been cut off—

from the house of our God

joy and rejoicing?

17The seed shrivels under their clods;

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down,

for the grain has withered.

18How the cattle groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed,

because there is no pasture unto them;

even the flocks of the sheep suffer punishment.

19To You, O YHWH, I call out,

for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,

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

20Even the beasts of the field pant for You,

for the channels of water have dried up,

and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.