Online Bible

The Devastation by Locusts

The ^aword of the LORD that came to ^bJoel, the son of Pethuel:

2 ^aHear this, you ^belders,And listen, all inhabitants of the land.^cHas anything like this happened in your days,Or in your fathers’ days?3 ^aTell your sons about it,And have your sons tell their sons,And their sons the next generation.

4 What the ^agnawing locust has left, the ¹swarming locust has eaten;And what the ^bswarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;And what the creeping locust has left, the ^cstripping locust has eaten.5 Awake, ^ayou heavy drinkers, and weep;And wail, all you wine drinkers,Because of the sweet wine,For it has been ^beliminated from your mouth.6 For a ^anation has ¹invaded my land,Mighty and without number;^bIts teeth are the teeth of a lion,And it has the jaws of a lioness.7 It has ^amade my vine a wasteAnd my fig tree a stump.It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;Their branches have become white.

8 ^aWail like a virgin ^bclothed with sackclothFor the groom of her youth.9 The ^agrain offering and the drink offering have been cut offFrom the house of the LORD.The ^bpriests mourn,The ministers of the LORD.10 The field is ^aruined,^bThe land mourns;For the grain is ruined,The new wine has dried up,Fresh oil has ¹failed.11 ^aBe ashamed, you farm workers,Wail, you vinedressers,For the wheat and the barley;Because the ^bharvest of the field is destroyed.12 The ^avine has dried upAnd the fig tree has withered;The ^bpomegranate, the ^cpalm also, and the ^dapple tree,All the trees of the field have dried up.Indeed, ^ejoy has dried upFrom the sons of mankind.

13 ^aPut on sackclothAnd mourn, you priests;^bWail, you ministers of the altar!Come, ^cspend the night in sackcloth,You ministers of my God,For the grain offering and the drink offeringHave been withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

14 ^aConsecrate a fast,Proclaim a ^bsolemn assembly;Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the LORD your God,And ^ccry out to the LORD.15 ^aWoe for the day!For the ^bday of the LORD is near,And it will come as ^cdestruction from the ¹Almighty.16 Has ^afood not been cut off before our eyes, andJoy and ^brejoicing from the house of our God?17 The ¹^aseeds have dried up under their shovels;The storehouses have become desolate,The grain silos are ruined,Because the grain has dried up.18 How ^athe animals have groaned!The herds of cattle have wandered aimlesslyBecause there is no pasture for them;Even the flocks of sheep have ¹suffered.19 ^aTo You, LORD, I cry out;For ^bfire 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 ¹^apant for You;For the ^bstream beds of water are dried up,And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.