The Invasion of Locusts

1The worde of the Lorde that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.

2Heare ye this you elders, & hearken with your eares all you that dwel in this lande: was there euer such a thyng in your dayes, or in the dayes of your fathers?

3Of this thyng tell your children, and let your children shewe it to their children, and their children to their posteritie afterwarde.

4That which the caterpiller hath left the grashopper hath eaten, and what the grashopper left hath the canker worme eaten, and what the canker worme left the locust hath deuoured.

5Awake ye drunkardes, & weepe, howle all ye wine bibbers for lacke of newe wine: for it is cleane taken away from your mouth.

6For a nation is come vp vpon my lande, mightie and without number: his teeth are as the teeth of a lion, and he hath the iawes of a great lion.

7He hath destroyed my vine, & barked my figge tree, he hath pilled it and cast it from him, and hath left bowes therof whyte.

A Call to Mourning

8Lament as a virgin girded with sackcloth, for the husbande of her youth.

9The meate offeryng and drinke offeryng is cut of from the house of the Lorde, the priestes I meane the Lordes ministers mourne.

10The fielde is wasted, the lande mourneth: for corne is destroyed, the newe wine is dryed vp, the oyle is vtterly taken away.

11Be ye ashamed O ye husbandemen, howle O ye wine dressers for ye wheate and for the barly: for the haruest of the fielde is perished.

12The wine is dryed vp, and the figge tree is decayed, the pomgranate tree, and the paulme, & the apple tree, euen all the trees of the fielde are withered vp: for ioy is withered away from the sonnes of men.

A Call to Repentance
(Amos 5:4–15; Zephaniah 2:1–3; Luke 13:1–5)

13Girde your selues and lament O ye priestes, howle ye out ye ministers of the aulter, come and lye all night in sackcloth ye seruauntes of my God: for the meate and drynke offerynges are taken away from the house of your God.

14Proclayme a fast, call a congregation, gather the elders together, with all the inhabitauntes of the lande vnto the house of the Lorde your God, and crye vnto the Lorde,

15Alas for this day, for the day of the Lorde is at hande, euen as a destruction from the almightie shall it come.

16Is not the meate cut of before our eyes, yea mirth and ioy from the house of our God?

17The seede is rotte vnder their cloddes, the garners are destroyed, the barnes are ouerthrowen: for the corne is withered.

18O howe cattell mourne? the heardes of beastes are in wofull case for lacke of pasture, and the flockes of sheepe are destroyed?

19Unto thee O Lorde wyll I crye, for feare hath destroyed the fruitfull places of the desert, and the flambe hath burnt vp all the trees of the fielde.

20The beastes also of the fielde crye out vnto thee: for the riuers of waters are dryed vp, and fire hath deuoured vp the fruitfull places of the desert.