Study Desk

The word of the Lord that came^(a) to Joel son of Pethuel:

Hear this,^(b) you elders; listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days^(c) or in the days of your ancestors?

Tell your children about it,^(d) and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation.

What the devouring locust^(e) has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust^(f) has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust^(g) has eaten.

Wake up, you drunkards,^(h) and weep; wail, all you wine drinkers, because of the sweet wine, for it has been taken from your mouth.

For a nation has invaded My land,⁽ⁱ⁾ powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness.^(j)

It has devastated My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away; its branches have turned white.

Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,^(k) mourning for the husband of her youth.

Grain and drink offerings have been cut off^(l) from the house of the Lord ; the priests, who are ministers of the Lord , mourn.^(m)

The fields are destroyed;⁽ⁿ⁾ the land grieves; indeed, the grain is destroyed; the new wine is dried up;^(o) and the olive oil fails.^(p)

Be ashamed, you farmers,^(q) wail, you vinedressers,^[a] over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.^(r)

The grapevine is dried up,^(s) and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate,^(t) the date palm,^(u) and the apple^(v)— all the trees of the orchard—have withered. Indeed, human joy has dried up.^(w)

Dress in sackcloth and lament,^(x) you priests;^(y) wail,^(z) you ministers of the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth,^(aa) you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

Announce a sacred fast;^(ab) proclaim an assembly! Gather the elders^(ac) and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God,^(ad) and cry out to the Lord .^(ae)

Woe because of that day!^(af) For the Day of the Lord is near and will come as devastation from the Almighty.^(ag)

Hasn't the food been cut off before our eyes,^(ah) joy and gladness^(ai) from the house of our God?

The seeds lie shriveled in their casings.^[b](aj) The storehouses are in ruin, and the granaries are broken down, because the grain has withered away.

How the animals groan!^(ak) The herds of cattle wander in confusion since they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

I call to You, Lord ,^(al) for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,^(am) and flames have devoured all the trees of the countryside.

Even the wild animals cry out to^[c] You,^(an) for the river beds are dried up,^(ao) and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.