JOEL
Joel 1 ©
The prophet, at God’s command, sets forth before the people the fearful plague of all manner of vermin. And exhorts them to take special notice of and consider the same, v. 1, 2, etc. Likewise to mourn and lament, 8. Commands to fast and to pray, 14.
THE word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
Hear this, ye 1old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath 2this been in your days, or even in the days of your 3fathers?
4Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children 5another generation.
That which the 6palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworma eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for 7it is cut off from your mouth.
For a 8nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose 9teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
10He hath laid 11my vine waste, and 12barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made 13white.
¶ 14Lament like a virgin girded with 15sackcloth for the 16husband of her youth.
The 17meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’S ministers, 18mourn.
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is 19dried up, the oil 20languisheth.
Be ye ashamed, O 21ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the 22wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
The vine is 23dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because 24joy is 25withered away from the sons of men.
26Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the 27meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
¶ 28Sanctifyb ye a fast, call a 29solemn assembly, gather the 30elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
31Alas for the day! for thec32day of the LORD is 33at hand, and as a destruction from the 34Almighty shall it come.
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the 35house of our God?
The 36seed is rotten under their clods, the 37garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
How do the 38beasts groan! 39the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the 40flocks of sheep are made desolate.
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the 41fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
42The beasts of the field 43cry also unto thee: for the 44rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.