The Coming Invasion

1This message from the LORD came to Pethuel’s son Joel.a

2“Hear this, you elders!

Listen, all of you residents of the land!

Has there ever been anything like this during your lifetime,b

or even when your ancestors were alive?c

3Pass it on to your children,

and fromd your children to their children,

and frome their children to the following generation.

4Whatever the devouring locust left behind

the locust swarm has consumed!

Whatever the locust swarm has left behind,

the young locustf has consumed!

Whatever the young locustg has left behind,

the ravaging locust has consumed!”

A Call to Mourning

5“Wake up, you drunkards!

Cry aloud and howl, you wine drinkers,

because your supply of new wine has been snatched from you.h

6Indeed, a nation has invaded my land—

it is strong and its population is too large to counti —

with teeth like a lion

and fangsj like a lioness.

7That nationk laid waste my vines,

and stripped bare my fig tree,

discarding it.

It stripped offl its bark.

8“Grieve like a virgin,

who, dressed in her mourner’s clothes,m

cries out in memoryn of the man she was going to marry.o

9Both grain offering and wine offering have been removed from the LORD’s Temple;p

the priests and ministering servants of the LORD are mourning.”

The Coming Famine

10“The fields lie in ruins

and the ground is dried up.q

Indeed, the grain is ruined,

the new wine has evaporated,

and the olive oil has run out.

11Be dismayed, you farmers!

Cry aloud, you vintners,

for the wheat and barley,

because the harvest in your fields has been lost.

12The grapevine is shriveled

and the fig tree is withered,

along with the pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the apple tree

and all of the cultivated trees.r

Truly, joy has evaporated from Adam’s children.”s

A Call to Mourn and Repent

13“Put on your mourning clothes, you priests;

and cry aloud, you ministering servants at the altar!

Come! Stay the night in mourner’s clothes,t you ministers of my God,

because the grain offering and the wine offering is held back from the Temple of your God.

14Set apart time for a fast!

Call a solemn assembly!

Gather the elders and everyone living in the land to the Temple of the LORD your God,

and cry out to the LORD!”

A Lament about the Day of the LORD

15Oh, no! For the Day of the LORD approaches,

and like destruction from the Almighty, it will come!

16Isn’t our food supply cut off right in front of us,u

along with joy and gladness from the Temple of our God?

17Seeds shrivel within their furrows,

the storehouses lie empty,

and granaries stand in ruins

because the grain has withered.

18Oh, how the livestock groan!

The herds of cattlev wander about

because they have no pasture.

Even flocks of sheep suffer!

19To you, LORD, I cry out,

because fire has devoured the open pastures,

and has set all the cultivated treesw ablaze.

20The livestock also cries out to you,

because their water sources have evaporated

and because fire has consumed the open pastures.