Joel 1:1-20 NASB95

[1] The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: [2] Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days? [3] Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. [4] What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten. [5] Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth. [6] For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness. [7] It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white. [8] Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. [9] The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, The ministers of the LORD. [10] The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. [11] Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. [12] The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men. [13] Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God. [14] Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD. [15] Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty. [16] Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God? [17] The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up. [18] How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. [19] To You, O LORD, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. [20] Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.