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

1:2  Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days?

1:3  Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation.

1:4  What 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.

1:5  Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That your mouth no longer has.

1:6  For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth resemble the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.

1:7  It 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.

1:8  Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.

1:9  The grain offering and the drink offering disappear From the house of the LORD The priests mourn, The ministers of the LORD.

1:10  The field has gone to ruin, The land mourns; For the grain has become ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.

1:11  Have shamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has suffered destruction.

1:12  The 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.

1:13   Gird 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 drink offering you have withheld from the house of your God.

1:14  Consecrate 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.

1:15  Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD draws near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

1:16  Has not food disappeared before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?

1:17  The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses suffered desolation, They have torn the barns down, For the grain has dried up.

1:18  How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because they have no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

1:19  To You, 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.

1:20  Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks have dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.