1The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel . 2Hear this , ye old men , and give ear , all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days , or in the days of your fathers? 3Tell ye your children of it , and let your children tell their children , and their children another generation . 4That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. 5Awake , ye drunkards , and weep ; and wail , all ye drinkers of wine , because of the sweet wine ; for it is cut off from your mouth . 6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong , and without number ; his teeth are the teeth of a lion , and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness . 7He hath laid my vine waste , and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare , and cast it away ; the branches thereof are made white . 8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth . 9The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah ; the priests , Jehovah ’s ministers , mourn. 10The field is laid waste , the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed , the new wine is dried up , the oil languisheth. 11Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail , O ye vinedressers , for the wheat and for the barley ; for the harvest of the field is perished. 12The vine is withered , and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also , and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered : for joy is withered away from the sons of men .
A Call to Mourning and Repentance
13Gird yourselves with sackcloth , and lament , ye priests ; wail , ye ministers of the altar ; come , lie all night in sackcloth , ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God. 14Sanctify a fast , call a solemn assembly , gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God , and cry unto Jehovah . 15Alas for the day ! for the day of Jehovah is at hand , and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 16Is not the food cut off before our eyes , yea , joy and gladness from the house of our God ? 17The seeds rot under their clods ; the garners are laid desolate , the barns are broken down ; for the grain is withered . 18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture ; yea , the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19O Jehovah , to thee do I cry ; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness , and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field . 20Yea , the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up , and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness .