1The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2Hear this, you elders, and listen, all you who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your time, or in the time of your ancestors?
3Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children tell the next generation.
4What the swarming locust left, the great locust ate. What the great locust left, the grasshopper ate. What the grasshopper left, the caterpillar ate.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and cry! Weep, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken from your mouth.
6For a strong and countless nation has invaded my land. Its teeth are like a lion's, and its fangs are like a lioness's.
7It has ruined my grapevine and stripped my fig tree. It has peeled off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches bare and white.
8Mourn like a young woman who wears sackcloth because her fiancé died!
9The grain offerings and liquid offerings are no longer brought to Yahweh’s house. The priests, Yahweh’s servants, are mourning.
10The fields are ruined. The land is sad because the grain is destroyed, the new wine has dried up, and the olive oil is scarce.
11Be confused, you farmers! Cry out, you vineyard workers, because of the wheat and the barley; for the harvest of the field is gone.
12The grapevine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree, and the apple tree—all the trees of the field—have withered. This is because all joy has disappeared from people.
13Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Cry out, you who serve at the altar. Come, spend the whole night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because the grain offerings and liquid offerings are no longer brought to your God’s house.
14Announce a holy fast. Call for a special meeting. Gather the elders and all the people living in the land to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry out to Yahweh.
15What a terrible day! For the day of Yahweh is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16Isn’t the food taken away right before our eyes? Isn’t joy and happiness gone from the house of our God?
17The seeds rot under the clods of dirt. The granaries are empty. The barns are broken down because the grain has withered.
18How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are confused because they have no pastures. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19Yahweh, I cry out to you, because fire has consumed the pastures in the wilderness, and flames have burned all the trees in the field.
20Even the wild animals long for you, because the water streams have dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures in the wilderness.