Joel 1

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

The divine message from the LORD, received by Joel, Pethuel's son, filled with awe and reverence.

Hear 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?

Listen up, elders, and everyone living here. Has anything like this ever happened in your lifetime, or even in your ancestors' time?

Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

Share your stories with your kids, and encourage them to pass them on to their own children, and so on, for generations to come.

That 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.

What the palmerworm didn't consume, the locust did; what the locust spared, the cankerworm devoured; and what remained from the cankerworm, the caterpillar finished off.

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

Rise, you who drown in drink, and shed tears; cry out, all you wine lovers, for the fresh wine is no longer yours to taste.

For 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.

A powerful, countless force has invaded my homeland, fierce and unyielding as a lion, with the crushing strength of a mighty beast.

He 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.

He has destroyed my vineyard, stripped my fig tree bare, leaving it barren and discarded. Its branches now stand pale and lifeless.

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Mourn deeply, like a young bride dressed in mourning clothes, grieving for the love of her youth.

The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.

The food and drink offerings to the Lord's house have ceased; His servants, the priests, are heartbroken.

The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

The land weeps, its fields barren and desolate. The crops have failed, the fresh wine has evaporated, and the oil has lost its vitality.

Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

Farmers, feel the shame; winegrowers, cry out in despair. The wheat and barley are gone; the harvest has failed.

The 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.

The grapevine has withered, the fig tree droops; the pomegranate, palm, and apple trees, all the trees in the field, are parched. This is because happiness has faded from humanity.

Gird 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.

Prepare yourselves, priests, and mourn deeply. Cry out, servants of the altar. Spend the night in humble attire, servants of my God. For the food and drink offerings are no longer present in God's house.

Sanctify 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,

Set aside a day for fasting, invite everyone for a serious gathering. Bring together the elders and all the people to God's house, and pour out your hearts to the Lord.

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Beware, for the Lord's day is near! It will arrive with the force of divine destruction.

Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Isn't our sustenance disappearing right before our eyes, along with the happiness and joy from God's house?

The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

Their seeds have decayed in the soil, their storehouses stand empty, their barns are in ruins; for the crops have failed.

How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

The animals cry out in pain! The herds of cows are confused, for they have no grass to eat; indeed, the groups of sheep are left abandoned and alone.

O 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.

My heart cries out to you, Lord, for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

The 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.

The animals in the wild plead to you, for the once flowing rivers have dried up, and the relentless fire has consumed the wilderness's green pastures.