| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1This is the LORD's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel: | 1This message from the LORD came to Pethuel's son Joel. |
| 2Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors? | 2"Hear this, you elders! Listen, all of you residents of the land! Has there ever been anything like this during your lifetime, or even when your ancestors were alive? |
| 3Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. | 3Pass it on to your children, and from your children to their children, and from their children to the following generation. |
| 4What the gazam -locust left the 'arbeh -locust consumed, what the 'arbeh -locust left the yeleq -locust consumed, and what the yeleq -locust left the hasil -locust consumed! | 4Whatever the devouring locust left behind the locust swarm has consumed! Whatever the locust swarm has left behind, the young locust has consumed! Whatever the young locust has left behind, the ravaging locust has consumed!" |
| 5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you. | 5"Wake up, you drunkards! Cry aloud and howl, you wine drinkers, because your supply of new wine has been snatched from you. |
| 6For a nation has invaded our land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. Their teeth are like those of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness. | 6Indeed, a nation has invaded my land— it is strong and its population is too large to count — with teeth like a lion and fangs like a lioness. |
| 7They have destroyed our vines; they have turned our fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark and thrown them aside; the twigs are stripped bare. | 7That nation laid waste my vines, and stripped bare my fig tree, discarding it. It stripped off its bark. |
| 8Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. | 8"Grieve like a virgin, who, dressed in her mourner's clothes, cries out in memory of the man she was going to marry. |
| 9No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the LORD anymore. So the priests, those who serve the LORD, are in mourning. | 9Both grain offering and wine offering have been removed from the LORD's Temple; the priests and ministering servants of the LORD are mourning." |
| 10The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes. | 10"The fields lie in ruins and the ground is dried up. Indeed, the grain is ruined, the new wine has evaporated, and the olive oil has run out. |
| 11Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished. | 11Be dismayed, you farmers! Cry aloud, you vintners, for the wheat and barley, because the harvest in your fields has been lost. |
| 12The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes--the pomegranate, date, and apple as well. In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up! | 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. Truly, joy has evaporated from Adam's children." |
| 13Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. | 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, you ministers of my God, because the grain offering and the wine offering is held back from the Temple of your God. |
| 14Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. | 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!" |
| 15How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. | 15Oh, no! For the Day of the LORD approaches, and like destruction from the Almighty, it will come! |
| 16Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! | 16Isn't our food supply cut off right in front of us, along with joy and gladness from the Temple of our God? |
| 17The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. | 17Seeds shrivel within their furrows, the storehouses lie empty, and granaries stand in ruins because the grain has withered. |
| 18Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. | 18Oh, how the livestock groan! The herds of cattle wander about because they have no pasture. Even flocks of sheep suffer! |
| 19To you, O LORD, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields. | 19To you, LORD, I cry out, because fire has devoured the open pastures, and has set all the cultivated trees ablaze. |
| 20Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures. | 20The livestock also cries out to you, because their water sources have evaporated and because fire has consumed the open pastures. |
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