Joel 1

1 ‎(1) The word of GOD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. ‎(2) Listen to this, O elders,

Give ear, all inhabitants of the land.

Has the like of this happened in your days

Or in the days of your ancestors? ‎(3) Tell your children about it,

And let your children tell theirs,

And their children the next generation! ‎(4) What the cutter has left, the locust has devoured;

What the locust has left, the grub has devoured;

And what the grub has left, the hopper has devoured. ‎(5) Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,

Wail, all you swillers of wine—

For the new wine that is denied you! ‎(6) For a nation has invaded my land,

Vast beyond counting,

With teeth like the teeth of a lion,

With the fangs of a lion’s breed. ‎(7) They have laid my vines waste

And splintered my fig trees:

They have stripped off their bark and thrown [it] away;

Their runners have turned white. ‎(8) Lament—like a maiden girt with sackcloth

For the husband of her youth! ‎(9) Offering and libation have ceased

From the House of GOD;

The priests must mourn

Who minister to GOD. ‎(10) The country is ravaged,

The ground must mourn;

For the new grain is ravaged,

The new wine is dried up,

The new oil has failed. ‎(11) Farmers are dismayed

And vine dressers wail

Over wheat and barley;

For the crops of the field are lost. ‎(12) The vine has dried up,

The fig tree withers,

Pomegranate, palm, and apple—

All the trees of the field are sear.

And joy has dried up

Among the people. ‎(13) Gird yourselves and lament, O priests,

Wail, O ministers of the altar;

Come, spend the night in sackcloth,

O ministers of my God.

For offering and libation are withheld

From the House of your God. ‎(14) Solemnize a fast,

Proclaim an assembly;

Gather the elders—all the inhabitants of the land—

In the House of the ETERNAL your God,

And cry out to GOD. ‎(15) Alas for the day!

For the day of GOD is near;

It shall come like havoc from Shaddai. ‎(16) For food is cut off

Before our very eyes,

And joy and gladness

From the House of our God. ‎(17) The seeds have shriveled

Under their clods.

The granaries are desolate,

Barns are in ruins,

For the new grain has failed. ‎(18) How the animals groan!

The herds of cattle are bewildered

Because they have no pasture,

And the flocks of sheep are dazed. ‎(19) To You, O ETERNAL One, I call.

For fire has consumed

The pastures in the wilderness,

And flame has devoured

All the trees of the countryside. ‎(20) The very beasts of the field

Cry out to You;

For the watercourses are dried up,

And fire has consumed

The pastures in the wilderness.

Commentaries

Version Info

Version: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition

License: CC-BY-NC