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The Devastation of Locusts

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

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

^3 (C1)Tell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.

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

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 ^(F1)invaded 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 waste
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 the LORD.
The ^(C2)priests mourn,
The ministers of the LORD.

¹⁰ The field is ^(C1)ruined,
^(C2)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
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 is destroyed.

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.

^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.

Starvation and Drought

^14 (C1)Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a ^(C2)solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the LORD your God,
And ^(C3)cry out to the LORD.

^15 (C1)Alas for the day!
For the ^(C2)day of the LORD 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 torn 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 LORD, I cry;
For ^(C2)fire has devoured 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 devoured the pastures of the wilderness.