Joel 1
1 The word of
the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.
2 Hear these
words, ye elders, and hearken all ye that inhabit the
land.
aGr. if.Have such things happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children concerning them,
and let your children
tell their children, and their children another
generation. 4 The leavings of the
bIt is difficult to assign the exact meaning of the Greek.caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the
palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, from
cGr. their.your wine, and weep: mourn, all ye that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy
and gladness are removed from your mouth.
6 For a strong and innumerable nation
is come up against my land, their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth
those of a lion's whelp.
7 He has ruined my vine, and utterly
broken my fig-trees: he has utterly searched my vine,
and cast it down; he has
dGr. whitened, Gen. 30. 37.peeled its branches.
8 Lament to me more than a virgin
girded with sackcloth for the
ei. e. one who married her as a virgin.husband of her youth. 9 The
meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord:
mourn, ye priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.
10 For the plains languish: let the
land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes
scarce; 11 the husbandmen are
consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the
fOr, vintage.harvest has perished from off the field.
12 The vine is dried up, and the
fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm-tree, and apple, and all
the trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men
gGr. disfigured, or, disgraced.have abolished joy.
13 Gird yourselves
with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests: mourn, ye
that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, ye that minister to God:
for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your
God.
14 Sanctify a fast, proclaim a
solemn service, gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of
your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,
15 Alas, alas, alas for the day! for
the day of the Lord is nigh, and it will come as trouble upon trouble.
16 Your meat
has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and gladness from out of the house of
your God. 17 The heifers have started
at their mangers, the treasures are abolished, the wine-presses are broken
down; for the corn is withered.
18 What shall we store up for
ourselves? the herds of cattle have mourned, because they had no pasture; and
the flocks of sheep have been utterly destroyed.
19 To thee, O Lord, will I cry: for
fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up
all the trees of the field. 20 And
the cattle of the field have looked up to thee: for the
hGr. issues. See 2 Kings 22. 16; Ezek. 47. 4.fountains of waters have been dried up, and fire has devoured the fair places
of the wilderness.