VerseAI

NIV

Joel 1

  1. 1<pb/>The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
  2. 2<pb/><t>Hear this, you elders;</t> <t>listen, all who live in the land.</t> <t>Has anything like this ever happened in your days</t> <t>or in the days of your ancestors?</t>
  3. 3<t>Tell it to your children,</t> <t>and let your children tell it to their children,</t> <t>and their children to the next generation.</t>
  4. 4<t>What the locust swarm has left</t> <t>the great locusts have eaten;</t> <t>what the great locusts have left</t> <t>the young locusts have eaten;</t> <t>what the young locusts have left</t> <t>other locusts<f>[1]</f> have eaten. <pb/></t>
  5. 5<t>Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!</t> <t>Wail, all you drinkers of wine;</t> <t>wail because of the new wine,</t> <t>for it has been snatched from your lips.</t>
  6. 6<t>A nation has invaded my land,</t> <t>a mighty army without number;</t> <t>it has the teeth of a lion,</t> <t>the fangs of a lioness.</t>
  7. 7<t>It has laid waste my vines</t> <t>and ruined my fig trees.</t> <t>It has stripped off their bark</t> <t>and thrown it away,</t> <t>leaving their branches white. <pb/></t>
  8. 8<t>Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth</t> <t>grieving for the betrothed of her youth.</t>
  9. 9<t>Grain offerings and drink offerings</t> <t>are cut off from the house of the LORD.</t> <t>The priests are in mourning,</t> <t>those who minister before the LORD.</t>
  10. 10<t>The fields are ruined,</t> <t>the ground is dried up;</t> <t>the grain is destroyed,</t> <t>the new wine is dried up,</t> <t>the olive oil fails. <pb/></t>
  11. 11<t>Despair, you farmers,</t> <t>wail, you vine growers;</t> <t>grieve for the wheat and the barley,</t> <t>because the harvest of the field is destroyed.</t>
  12. 12<t>The vine is dried up</t> <t>and the fig tree is withered;</t> <t>the pomegranate, the palm and the apple<f>[2]</f> tree—</t> <t>all the trees of the field—are dried up.</t> <t>Surely the people’s joy</t> <t>is withered away.</t>
  13. 13<t>Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn;</t> <t>wail, you who minister before the altar.</t> <t>Come, spend the night in sackcloth,</t> <t>you who minister before my God;</t> <t>for the grain offerings and drink offerings</t> <t>are withheld from the house of your God.</t>
  14. 14<t>Declare a holy fast;</t> <t>call a sacred assembly.</t> <t>Summon the elders</t> <t>and all who live in the land</t> <t>to the house of the LORD your God,</t> <t>and cry out to the LORD. <pb/></t>
  15. 15<t>Alas for that day!</t> <t>For the day of the LORD is near;</t> <t>it will come like destruction from the Almighty.<f>[3]</f> <pb/></t>
  16. 16<t>Has not the food been cut off</t> <t>before our very eyes—</t> <t>joy and gladness</t> <t>from the house of our God?</t>
  17. 17<t>The seeds are shriveled</t> <t>beneath the clods.<f>[4]</f></t> <t>The storehouses are in ruins,</t> <t>the granaries have been broken down,</t> <t>for the grain has dried up.</t>
  18. 18<t>How the cattle moan!</t> <t>The herds mill about</t> <t>because they have no pasture;</t> <t>even the flocks of sheep are suffering. <pb/></t>
  19. 19<t>To you, LORD, I call,</t> <t>for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness</t> <t>and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.</t>
  20. 20<t>Even the wild animals pant for you;</t> <t>the streams of water have dried up</t> <t>and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.</t>