1:1   I am Joel the son of Pethuel. And this is the message the LORD gave to me.

1:2   Listen, you leaders and everyone else in the land. Has anything like this ever happened before?

1:3   Tell our children! Let it be told to our grandchildren and their children too.

1:4   Swarm after swarm of locusts has attacked our crops, eating everything in sight.

1:5   Sober up, you drunkards! Cry long and loud; your wine supply is gone.

1:6   A powerful nation with countless troops has invaded our land. They have the teeth and jaws of powerful lions.

1:7   Our grapevines and fig trees are stripped bare; only naked branches remain.

1:8   Grieve like a young woman mourning for the man she was to marry.

1:9   Offerings of grain and wine are no longer brought to the LORD's temple. His servants, the priests, are deep in sorrow.

1:10   Barren fields mourn; grain, grapes, and olives are scorched and shriveled.

1:11   Mourn for our farms and our vineyards! There's no wheat or barley growing in our fields.

1:12   Grapevines have dried up and so has every tree-- figs and pomegranates, date palms and apples. All happiness has faded away.

1:13   Mourn, you priests who serve at the altar of my God. Spend your days and nights wearing sackcloth. Offerings of grain and wine are no longer brought to the LORD's temple.

1:14   Tell the leaders and people to come together at the temple. Order them to go without eating and to pray sincerely.

1:15   We are in for trouble! Soon the LORD All-Powerful will bring disaster.

1:16   Our food is already gone; there's no more celebrating at the temple of our God.

1:17   Seeds dry up in the ground; no harvest is possible. Our barns are in bad shape, with no grain to store in them.

1:18   Our cattle wander aimlessly, moaning for lack of pasture, and sheep are suffering.

1:19   I cry out to you, LORD. Grasslands and forests are eaten by the scorching heat.

1:20   Wild animals have no water because of you; rivers and streams are dry, and pastures are parched.