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¹ The worde of the Lorde that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.² Heare ye this you elders, & hearken with your eares all you that dwel in this lande: was there euer such a thyng in your dayes, or in the dayes of your fathers?³ Of this thyng tell your children, and let your children [shewe it] to their children, and their children to [their] posteritie afterwarde.⁴ That which the caterpiller hath left the grashopper hath eaten, and what the grashopper left hath the canker worme eaten, and what the canker worme left the locust hath deuoured.⁵ Awake ye drunkardes, & weepe, howle all ye wine bibbers for lacke of newe wine: for it is cleane taken away from your mouth.⁶ For a nation is come vp vpon my lande, mightie and without number: his teeth are as the teeth of a lion, and he hath the iawes of a great lion.⁷ He hath destroyed my vine, & barked my figge tree, he hath pilled it and cast it from him, and hath left bowes therof whyte.

⁸ Lament as a virgin girded with sackcloth, for the husbande of her youth.⁹ The meate offeryng and drinke offeryng is cut of from the house of the Lorde, the priestes [I meane] the Lordes ministers mourne.¹⁰ The fielde is wasted, the lande mourneth: for corne is destroyed, the newe wine is dryed vp, the oyle is vtterly taken away.¹¹ Be ye ashamed O ye husbandemen, howle O ye wine dressers for ye wheate and for the barly: for the haruest of the fielde is perished.¹² The wine is dryed vp, and the figge tree is decayed, the pomgranate tree, and the paulme, & the apple tree, [euen] all the trees of the fielde are withered vp: for ioy is withered away from the sonnes of men.¹³ Girde your selues and lament O ye priestes, howle ye out ye ministers of the aulter, come and lye all night in sackcloth ye seruauntes of my God: for the meate and drynke offerynges are taken away from the house of your God.

¹⁴ Proclayme a fast, call a congregation, gather the elders together, [with] all the inhabitauntes of the lande vnto the house of the Lorde your God, and crye vnto the Lorde,¹⁵ Alas for this day, for the day of the Lorde is at hande, euen as a destruction from the almightie shall it come.¹⁶ Is not the meate cut of before our eyes, [yea] mirth and ioy from the house of our God?¹⁷ The seede is rotte vnder their cloddes, the garners are destroyed, the barnes are ouerthrowen: for the corne is withered.¹⁸ O howe cattell mourne? the heardes of beastes are in wofull case for lacke of pasture, and the flockes of sheepe are destroyed?¹⁹ Unto thee O Lorde wyll I crye, for feare hath destroyed the fruitfull places of the desert, and the flambe hath burnt vp all the trees of the fielde.²⁰ The beastes also of the fielde crye out vnto thee: for the riuers of waters are dryed vp, and fire hath deuoured vp the fruitfull places of the desert.