1 The word of the LORD that came ⓒ to Joel son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, ⓓ you elders; listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days ⓔ or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about it, ⓕ and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation.
4 What the devouring locust ⓖ has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust ⓗ has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust ⓘ has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, ⓙ and weep; wail, all you wine drinkers, because of the sweet wine, for it has been taken from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land, ⓚ powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness. ⓛ
7 It has devastated my grapevine and splintered my fig tree. It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away; its branches have turned white.
8 Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, ⓜ mourning for the husband of her youth.
9 Grain and drink offerings have been cut off ⓝ from the house of the LORD; the priests, who are ministers of the LORD, mourn. ⓐ
10 The fields are destroyed; ⓑ the land grieves; indeed, the grain is destroyed; the new wine is dried up; ⓒ and the fresh oil fails. ⓓ
11 Be ashamed, you farmers, ⓔ wail, you vinedressers, [1] over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. ⓕ
12 The grapevine is dried up, ⓖ and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, ⓗ the date palm, ⓘ and the apple ⓙ — all the trees of the orchard — have withered. Indeed, human joy has dried up. ⓚ
13 Dress in sackcloth and lament, ⓛ you priests; ⓜ wail, ⓝ you ministers of the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth, ⓐ you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Announce a sacred fast; ⓑ proclaim an assembly! Gather the elders ⓒ and all the residents of the land at the house of the LORD your God, ⓓ and cry out to the LORD. ⓔ
15 Woe because of that day! ⓕ For the day of the LORD is near and will come as devastation from the Almighty. ⓖ
16 Hasn’t the food been cut off before our eyes, ⓗ joy and gladness ⓘ from the house of our God?
17 The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. [2] ⓙ The storehouses are in ruin, and the granaries are broken down, because the grain has withered away.
18 How the animals groan! ⓚ The herds of cattle wander in confusion since they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep and goats suffer punishment.
19 I call to you, LORD, ⓛ for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, ⓜ and flames have devoured all the trees of the orchard.
20 Even the wild animals cry out to [3] you, ⓝ for the river beds are dried up, ⓐ and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.