King James Version

1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, O elders, and give ear, all inhabitants of the earth. Has this happened in your days or even in the days of your forefathers? 3 Tell your sons and your sons' sons and your sons' sons to another generation. 4 The rest of the locusts ate the grasshopper, and the rest of the grasshoppers ate the young locust, and the rest of the young locusts ate the caterpillar. 5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation has risen against my land, mighty and without number, the teeth of lions and the fangs of a lioness. 7 I have set my vine for destruction and my fig tree for anger; expose its leaves and cast away its branches. 8 My God, a virgin clothed in sackcloth for her youthful husband. 9 The offering and drink offering from the house of the Lord, the priests who serve the Lord mourn. 10 The field was devastated, the land mourned because the grain was devastated, the new wine was embarrassed, the oil languished. 11 Farmers were ashamed; vine dressers wailed over wheat and over barley, for the harvest of the field has perished. 12 The vine has withered, and the fig tree has languished; the pomegranate and the palm tree, as well as all the trees of the field, have dried up, because joy has withered away from the sons of man. 13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie down in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast, call for a solemn assembly, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 15 Ah, for the day, for the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it will come. 16 "Is there not before our eyes food that is cut off from the house of our God, joy and gladness?" 17 They became rotten, the fruits under their vines perished, their treasures were destroyed, for the grain was ashamed. 18 What will we do for the animals? The herds of cattle have become confused because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep have suffered. 19 To You, O Lord, I call, for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20 Also in the beasts of the field, they shall cry out to you; for the brooks of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.