1The word of the LORD 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 even 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 palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten ; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten . 5Awake , ye drunkards , and weep ; and howl , all ye drinkers of wine , because of the new wine ; for it is cut off from your mouth . 6For a nation is come up upon my land , strong , and without number , whose teeth are the teeth of a lion , and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion . 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 meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD ; the priests , the LORD’s ministers , mourn . 10The field is wasted , the land mourneth ; for the corn is wasted : the new wine is dried up , the oil languisheth . 11Be ye ashamed , O ye husbandmen ; howl , O ye vinedressers , for the wheat and for the barley ; because the harvest of the field is perished . 12The vine is dried up , 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 : because joy is withered away from the sons of men .
A Call to Mourning and Repentance
13Gird yourselves, and lament , ye priests : howl , ye ministers of the altar : come , lie all night in sackcloth , ye ministers of my God : for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God . 14Sanctify ye a fast , call a solemn assembly , gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God , and cry unto the LORD , 15Alas for the day ! for the day of the LORD is at hand , and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come . 16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes , yea , joy and gladness from the house of our God ? 17The seed is rotten under their clods , the garners are laid desolate , the barns are broken down ; for the corn 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 LORD , to thee will I cry : for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness , and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field . 20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up , and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness .