| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel. Mourning over the Locust Plague | 1This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel: |
| 2Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before? | 2Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? |
| 3Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation. | 3Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. |
| 4After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops, the swarming locusts took what was left! After them came the hopping locusts, and then the stripping locusts, too! | 4What 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. |
| 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone. | 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. |
| 6A vast army of locusts has invaded my land, a terrible army too numerous to count. Its teeth are like lions’ teeth, its fangs like those of a lioness. | 6For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness. |
| 7It has destroyed my grapevines and ruined my fig trees, stripping their bark and destroying it, leaving the branches white and bare. | 7It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white. |
| 8Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband. | 8Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth. |
| 9For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of the LORD. So the priests are in mourning. The ministers of the LORD are weeping. | 9Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. |
| 10The fields are ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone. | 10The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails. |
| 11Despair, all you farmers! Wail, all you vine growers! Weep, because the wheat and barley— all the crops of the field—are ruined. | 11Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. |
| 12The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees— all the fruit trees—have dried up. And the people’s joy has dried up with them. | 12The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up. |
| 13Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests! Wail, you who serve before the altar! Come, spend the night in burlap, you ministers of my God. For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God. | 13Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. |
| 14Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to him there. | 14Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. |
| 15The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be! | 15Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. |
| 16Our food disappears before our very eyes. No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God. | 16Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? |
| 17The seeds die in the parched ground, and the grain crops fail. The barns stand empty, and granaries are abandoned. | 17The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away. |
| 18How the animals moan with hunger! The herds of cattle wander about confused, because they have no pasture. The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery. | 18How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. |
| 19LORD, help us! The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures, and flames have burned up all the trees. | 19To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. |
| 20Even the wild animals cry out to you because the streams have dried up, and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures. | 20Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures. |
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