Joel, 1
The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people, and invites them to fasting and prayer.
[1] The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel. •
[2] Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? •
[3] Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. •
[4] That which the palmerworm hath left 1, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed. •
That which the palmerworm hath left: Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies.
[5] Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth. •
[6] For a nation come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's whelp. •
[7] He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. •
[8] Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. •
[9] Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned: •
[10] The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished. •
[11] The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.
[12] The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men. •
[13] Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God. •
[14] Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord: •
[15] Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty. •
[16] Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? •
[17] The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded. •
[18] Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.
[19] To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country. •
[20] Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness. •