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Joel 1

Locusts eat all the plants in Israel

1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Joel, son of Pethuel. ^{[ a ]}

² You older men, hear this! Listen, all people who live in this country.
Nothing like this has happened while you have been alive.
Nothing like this happened while your ancestors were alive.
³ Tell this to your children.
And they must tell it to their children.
And their children must tell it to their own children.
⁴ The great locusts have eaten what the big group of locusts left.
The young locusts have eaten what the great locusts left.
Other locusts have eaten what the young locusts left.
⁵ Wake up, you who have drunk too much wine!
Cry, all people who drink wine!
Cry because you will have no new wine.
Someone has taken it away from you.
⁶ A strong army has marched into my land.
It is powerful, and great in numbers.
It has the teeth of a strong animal.
And the teeth are long and dangerous.
⁷ It has broken my vines.
It has destroyed my fig trees.
It has eaten the outside of the trees.
It has thrown them away.
It has left their branches white.
⁸ Cry like a girl that no man ever loved.
She is crying because her promised husband is dead.
⁹ There will be no more gifts of food or drink.
They will not reach the house of the Lord .
The priests, the servants of the Lord ,
are very, very sad.
¹⁰ Nobody can use the fields.
They are all dry.
The new wine has all gone.
The oil has all gone.
¹¹ You farmers, you cry.
You who grow vines, cry.
Be sad for the seeds that are food.
Be sad because the fields are dry. And the plants have died.
¹² The vine has become dry,
and the fig tree is dead.
The apple trees and other fruit trees,
all the trees have no more fruit.
Men have no more joy.
It has all gone.

Joel tells people to be sad about their sins

¹³ You priests, wear clothes that are not comfortable.
That will show that you are sad.
You cry, you who serve the Lord in his temple.
Come, you who serve in front of my God.
Sleep in the clothes that are not comfortable.
Cry for the gifts of food and drink.
Cry because they do not come to the house of your God any longer.
¹⁴ Tell everyone that they must not eat any food.
Tell the people that they must all come to hear the Lord .
Speak to the older leaders,
and all the people who live in this country.
Tell them that they must all come.
They must come to the house of the Lord your God
and they must shout out to the Lord .
¹⁵ Be afraid because of that day.
Be afraid because the day of the Lord is near.
It will be as if the great God would destroy everything.
¹⁶ No food has come.
We saw this with our own eyes.
The house of our God cannot make us happy.
¹⁷ The seeds under the earth are dry.
The places where they were stored have fallen down.
Someone has broken them up
because the seed does not grow.
¹⁸ The cows make a sad noise.
They all move about
because they cannot find any grass.
Even groups of sheep are hungry.
¹⁹ I speak to you, my Lord .
Fire has destroyed the grass in the wilderness,
and it has burned up all the trees.
²⁰ Even the wild animals are thirsty and they want your help.
The rivers have no water in them.
Fire has destroyed the fields in the wilderness.

Footnotes

1:1 When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14 . It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.

Locusts Will Destroy the Crops

1 Joel son of Pethuel received this message from the Lord :

² Leaders, listen to this message!
Listen to me, all you people who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your life?
Did anything like this happen during your fathers’ lifetime?
³ You will tell these things to your children,
and your children will tell their children,
and your grandchildren will tell the people of the next generation.
⁴ What the cutting locust ^{[ a ]} has left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
And what the swarming locust has left,
the hopping locust has eaten.
And what the hopping locust has left,
the destroying locust has eaten!

The Locusts—A Powerful Army

⁵ Drunks, wake up and cry!
All of you who drink wine, cry
because your sweet wine is finished.
You will not taste it again.
⁶ A powerful nation came to attack my land.
Its soldiers were too many to count.
Its weapons were as sharp as a lion’s teeth
and as powerful as a lion’s jaw.

⁷ It destroyed my grapevine.
Its good vines withered and died.
It destroyed my fig tree,
stripped off the bark and threw it away.

The People Cry

⁸ Cry like a young woman crying
because the man she was ready to marry has died.
⁹ Priests, servants of the Lord , cry
because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in the Lord ’s Temple.
¹⁰ The fields are ruined.
Even the ground is crying
because the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up,
and the olive oil is gone.
¹¹ Be sad, farmers!
Cry loudly for the grapes,
for the wheat, and for the barley,
because the harvest in the field is ruined.
¹² The vines have become dry,
and the fig tree is dying.
All the trees in the field—
the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple—have withered.
And happiness among the people has died.
¹³ Priests, put on sackcloth and cry loudly.
Servants of the altar, cry loudly.
Servants of my God, you will sleep in sackcloth,
because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in God’s Temple.

The Terrible Destruction of the Locusts

¹⁴ Tell the people that there will be a special time of fasting. Call them together for a special meeting. Bring the leaders and everyone living in the land together at the Temple of the Lord your God, and pray to the Lord .

¹⁵ Be sad because the Lord ’s special day is near. At that time punishment will come like an attack from God All-Powerful. ¹⁶ Our food is gone. Joy and happiness are gone from the Temple of our God. ¹⁷ We planted seeds, but the seeds became dry and dead lying in the soil. Our plants are dry and dead. Our barns are empty and falling down.

¹⁸ The animals are hungry and groaning. The herds of cattle wander around confused because they have no grass to eat. The sheep are dying. ^{[ b ]} ¹⁹ Lord , I am calling to you for help. Fire has changed our green fields into a desert. Flames have burned all the trees in the field. ²⁰ Wild animals also need your help. The streams are dry—there is no water! Fire has changed our green fields into a desert.

Footnotes

Joel 1:4 locust See “ locust ” in the Word List. Here, Joel might be talking about an enemy army.
Joel 1:18 dying Literally, “being punished.”

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

² Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

³ Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

⁴ That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

⁵ Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶ For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

⁷ He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean 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 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord ; the priests, the Lord 's ministers, mourn.

¹⁰ The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

¹¹ Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

¹² The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

¹³ Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

¹⁴ Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord ,

¹⁵ Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

¹⁶ Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

¹⁷ The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

¹⁸ How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

¹⁹ O Lord , to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰ The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

The Devastation by Locusts

1 The ^{( A )} word of the Lord that came to ^{( B )} Joel, the son of Pethuel:

² ^{( C )} Hear this, you ^{( D )} elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
^{( E )} Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or in your fathers’ days?
³ ^{( F )} Tell your sons about it,
And have your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.

⁴ What the ^{( G )} gnawing locust has left, the ^{[ a ]} swarming locust has eaten;
And what the ^{( H )} swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the ^{( I )} stripping locust has eaten.
⁵ Awake, ^{( J )} you heavy drinkers, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
Because of the sweet wine,
For it has been ^{( K )} eliminated from your mouth.
⁶ For a ^{( L )} nation has ^{[ b ]} invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
^{( M )} Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the jaws of a lioness.
⁷ It has ^{( N )} made my vine a waste
And my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;
Their branches have become white.

⁸ ^{( O )} Wail like a virgin ^{( P )} clothed with sackcloth
For the groom of her youth.
⁹ The ^{( Q )} grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off
From the house of the Lord .
The ^{( R )} priests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord .
¹⁰ The field is ^{( S )} ruined,
^{( T )} The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine has dried up,
Fresh oil has ^{[ c ]} failed.
¹¹ ^{( U )} Be ashamed, you farm workers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the ^{( V )} harvest of the field is destroyed.
¹² The ^{( W )} vine has dried up
And the fig tree has withered;
The ^{( X )} pomegranate, the ^{( Y )} palm also, and the ^{( Z )} apple tree,
All the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, ^{( AA )} joy has dried up
From the sons of mankind.

¹³ ^{( AB )} Put on sackcloth
And mourn, you priests;
^{( AC )} Wail, you ministers of the altar!
Come, ^{( AD )} spend the night in sackcloth,
You ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Have been withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

¹⁴ ^{( AE )} Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a ^{( AF )} solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And ^{( AG )} cry out to the Lord .
¹⁵ ^{( AH )} Woe for the day!
For the ^{( AI )} day of the Lord is near,
And it will come as ^{( AJ )} destruction from the ^{[ d ]} Almighty.
¹⁶ Has ^{( AK )} food not been cut off before our eyes, and
Joy and ^{( AL )} rejoicing from the house of our God?
¹⁷ The ^{[ e ]} ^{( AM )} seeds have dried up under their shovels;
The storehouses have become desolate,
The grain silos are ruined,
Because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ How ^{( AN )} the animals have groaned!
The herds of cattle have wandered aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep have ^{[ f ]} suffered.
¹⁹ ^{( AO )} To You, Lord , I cry out;
For ^{( AP )} fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the animals of the field ^{[ g ]} ^{( AQ )} pant for You;
For the ^{( AR )} stream beds of water are dried up,
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Footnotes

Joel 1:4 Or migratory
Joel 1:6 Lit gone up against
Joel 1:10 Lit dried out
Joel 1:15 Heb Shaddai
Joel 1:17 Or dried figs
Joel 1:18 Lit suffered punishment
Joel 1:20 Or long for

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Table of Contents

Joel 1

Locusts eat all the plants in Israel

Joel tells people to be sad about their sins

Footnotes

Locusts Will Destroy the Crops

The Locusts—A Powerful Army

The People Cry

The Terrible Destruction of the Locusts

Footnotes

The Devastation by Locusts

Starvation and Drought

Footnotes

Cross references

An Invasion of Locusts

A Call to Lamentation

Footnotes

Cross references

BibleStudyIt Joel 1

Joel 1's Chapter Tabs Scroll past these tabs to continue or click on one of them to navigate out of this webpage.

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Your Private Notes

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Joel 1

Locusts eat all the plants in Israel

Joel tells people to be sad about their sins

Footnotes

Locusts Will Destroy the Crops

The Locusts—A Powerful Army

The People Cry

The Terrible Destruction of the Locusts

Footnotes

The Devastation by Locusts

Starvation and Drought

Footnotes

Cross references

An Invasion of Locusts

A Call to Lamentation

Footnotes

Cross references

Joel 1's Chapter Tabs
Scroll past these tabs to continue or click on one of them to navigate out of this webpage.