[1] I am Joel the son of Pethuel. And this is the message the LORD gave to me. [2] Listen, you leaders and everyone else in the land. Has anything like this ever happened before? [3] Tell our children! Let it be told to our grandchildren and their children too. [4] Swarm after swarm of locusts has attacked our crops, eating everything in sight. [5] Sober up, you drunkards! Cry long and loud; your wine supply is gone. [6] A powerful nation with countless troops has invaded our land. They have the teeth and jaws of powerful lions. [7] Our grapevines and fig trees are stripped bare; only naked branches remain. [8] Grieve like a young woman mourning for the man she was to marry. [9] Offerings of grain and wine are no longer brought to the LORD's temple. His servants, the priests, are deep in sorrow. [10] Barren fields mourn; grain, grapes, and olives are scorched and shriveled. [11] Mourn for our farms and our vineyards! There's no wheat or barley growing in our fields. [12] Grapevines have dried up and so has every tree- figs and pomegranates, date palms and apples. All happiness has faded away. [13] Mourn, you priests who serve at the altar of my God. Spend your days and nights wearing sackcloth. Offerings of grain and wine are no longer brought to the LORD's temple. [14] Tell the leaders and people to come together at the temple. Order them to go without eating and to pray sincerely. [15] We are in for trouble! Soon the LORD All-Powerful will bring disaster. [16] Our food is already gone; there's no more celebrating at the temple of our God. [17] Seeds dry up in the ground; no harvest is possible. Our barns are in bad shape, with no grain to store in them. [18] Our cattle wander aimlessly, moaning for lack of pasture, and sheep are suffering. [19] I cry out to you, LORD. Grasslands and forests are eaten by the scorching heat. [20] Wild animals have no water because of you; rivers and streams are dry, and pastures are parched.
