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

     2Hear this, O elders,
            And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
            Has anything like this happened in your days
            Or in your fathers’ days?

     3Tell your sons about it,
            And let your sons tell their sons,
            And their sons the next generation.

     4What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
            And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
            And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

     5Awake, drunkards, and weep;
            And wail, all you wine drinkers,
            On account of the sweet wine
            That is cut off from your mouth.

     6For a nation has invaded my land,
            Mighty and without number;
            Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
            And it has the fangs of a lioness.

     7It has made my vine a waste,
            And my fig tree splinters.
            It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
            Their branches have become white.

     8Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
            For the bridegroom of her youth.

     9The grain offering and the libation are cut off
            From the house of the LORD.
            The priests mourn,
            The ministers of the LORD.

     10The field is ruined,
            The land mourns,
            For the grain is ruined,
            The new wine dries up,
            Fresh oil fails.

     11Be ashamed, O farmers,
            Wail, O vinedressers,
            For the wheat and the barley;
            Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

     12The vine dries up,
            And the fig tree fails;
            The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
            All the trees of the field dry up.
            Indeed, rejoicing dries up
            From the sons of men.

     13Gird yourselves with sackcloth,
            And lament, O priests;
            Wail, O ministers of the altar!
            Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
            O ministers of my God,
            For the grain offering and the libation
            Are withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

     14Consecrate a fast,
            Proclaim a solemn assembly;
            Gather the elders
            And all the inhabitants of the land
            To the house of the LORD your God,
            And cry out to the LORD.

     15Alas for the day!
            For the day of the LORD is near,
            And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

     16Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
            Gladness and joy from the house of our God?

     17The seeds shrivel under their clods;
            The storehouses are desolate,
            The barns are torn down,
            For the grain is dried up.

     18How the beasts groan!
            The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
            Because there is no pasture for them;
            Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

     19To Thee, O LORD, I cry;
            For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
            And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

     20Even the beasts of the field pant for Thee;
            For the water brooks are dried up,
            And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.