Joel 1

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 The word of Yahweh that was addressed to Joel son of Pethuel.	1 The word of the LORD which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 Listen to this, you elders; everybody in the country, attend! Has anything like this ever happened in yourday, or in your ancestors' days?	2 Hear this, you elders! Pay attention, all you who dwell in the land! Has the like of this happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it and let your children tel their children, and their children the next generation!	3 Tell it to your children, and your children to their children, and their children to the next generation.
4 What the nibbler has left, the grown locust has eaten, what the grown locust has left, the hopper haseaten, and what the hopper has left, the shearer has eaten.	4 What the cutter left, the locust swarm has eaten; What the locust swarm left, the grasshopper has eaten; And what the grasshopper left, the devourer has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! All you wine-bibbers, lament for the new wine: it has beensnatched from your lips.	5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because the juice of the grape will be withheld from your mouths.
6 For a nation has invaded my country, mighty and innumerable, with teeth like a lion's teeth, with thefangs of a lioness.	6 For a people has invaded my land, mighty and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and his molars those of a lioness.
7 It has reduced my vines to a desolation and my fig trees to splinters, stripped them and broken themdown, leaving their branches white.	7 He has laid waste my vine, and blighted my fig tree; He has stripped it, sheared off its bark; its branches are made white.
8 Mourn, as a virgin-bride in sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth!	8 Lament like a virgin girt with sackcloth for the spouse of her youth.
9 Cereal offering and libation are lost to Yahweh's Temple. The priests, the ministers of Yahweh, are inmourning.	9 Abolished are offering and libation from the house of the LORD; In mourning are the priests, the ministers of the LORD.
10 The fields are ruined, the land is in mourning, for the grain has been ruined, the new wine has failed, ofolive oil only a trickle.	10 The field is ravaged, the earth mourns, Because the grain is ravaged, the must has failed, the oil languishes.
11 Stand dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat, for the barley! The harvest of thefields has been lost!	11 Be appalled, you husbandmen! wail, you vinedressers! Over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has withered, the fig tree wilts away; pomegranate, palm tree, apple tree, every tree in thecountryside is dry, and for human beings joy has run dry too.	12 The vine has dried up, the fig tree is withered; The pomegranate, the date palm also, and the apple, all the trees of the field are dried up; Yes, joy has withered away from among mankind.
13 Priests, put on sackcloth and lament! You ministers of the altar, wail! Come here, lie in sackcloth alnight long, you ministers of my God! For the Temple of your God has been deprived of cereal offering andlibation.	13 Gird yourselves and weep, O priests! wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! The house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.
14 Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; you elders, summon everybody in the country to theTemple of Yahweh your God. Cry out to Yahweh:	14 Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the elders, all who dwell in the land, Into the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD!
15 'Alas for the day! For the Day of Yahweh is near, coming as destruction from Shaddai.'	15 Alas, the day! for near is the day of the LORD, and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food disappeared before our very eyes? Have not joy and gladness vanished from theTemple of our God?	16 From before our very eyes has not the food been cut off; And from the house of our God, joy and gladness?
17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; the granaries are deserted, the barns are in ruins, because theharvest has dried out.	17 The seed lies shriveled under its clods; the stores are destroyed, The barns are broken down, for the grain has failed.
18 Loudly the cattle groan! The herds of oxen are bewildered because they have no pasture. The flocks ofsheep bear the punishment too.	18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered! Because they have no pasturage, even the flocks of sheep have perished.
19 Yahweh, to you I cry: for fire has devoured the desert pastures, flame has burnt up all the trees in thecountryside.	19 To you, O LORD, I cry! for fire has devoured the pastures of the plain, and flame has enkindled all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant loudly for you, for the watercourses have run dry, and fire has devoured thedesert pastures.	20 Even the beasts of the field cry out to you; For the streams of water are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the plain.