Read the Bible

The Locusts Bring Desolation

¹ The ^(C1)word of ^(F1)Yahweh that came to ^(C2)Joel, the son of Pethuel:

^2 (C1)Hear this, O ^(C2)elders,
And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
^(C3)Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers' days?

^3 (C1)Recount about it to your sons,
And let your sons recount about it to their sons,
And their sons to the next generation.

⁴ What the ^(C1)gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;
And what the ^(C2)swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;
And what the creeping locust has left, the ^(C3)stripping locust has consumed.

⁵ Awake, ^(C1)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is ^(C2)cut off from your mouth.

⁶ For a ^(C1)nation has come up against my land,
Mighty and without number;
^(C2)Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷ It has ^(C1)made my vine a desolation
And my fig tree ^(F1)splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.

^8 (C1)Wail like a virgin ^(C2)girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.

⁹ The ^(C1)grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of Yahweh.
The ^(C2)priests mourn,
The ministers of Yahweh.

¹⁰ The field is ^(C1)destroyed;
^(C2)The land mourns,
For the grain is destroyed,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil ^(F1)fails.

^11 (F1)(C1)Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley,
Because the ^(C2)harvest of the field perishes.

¹² The ^(C1)vine dries up,
And the fig tree ^(F1)fails;
The ^(C2)pomegranate, the ^(C3)palm also, and the ^(F2)(C4)apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, ^(C5)rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.

The Day of Yahweh Is Near

^13 (C1)Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
^(C2)Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, ^(C3)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 (C1)Set apart a fast as holy,
Call for a ^(C2)solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of Yahweh your God,
And ^(C3)cry out to Yahweh.

^15 (C1)Alas for the day!
For the ^(C2)day of Yahweh is near,
And it will come as ^(C3)destruction from the ^(F1)Almighty.

¹⁶ Has not ^(C1)food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and ^(C2)joy from the house of our God?

¹⁷ The ^(F1)(C1)seeds shrivel under their ^(F2)clods;
The storehouses are desolate;
The barns are pulled down,
For the grain is dried up.

¹⁸ How ^(C1)the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep ^(F1)suffer.

^19 (C1)To You, O Yahweh, I cry;
For ^(C2)fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

²⁰ Even the beasts of the field ^(F1)(C1)pant for You;
For the ^(C2)water brooks are dried up,
And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.