Joel 1 ESV | WeDevote Bible

1The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

21:2 [Hos. 5:1] Hear this, 1:2 ver. 14you elders;

give ear, 1:2 ver. 14all inhabitants of the land!

1:2 [ch. 2:2]Has such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

31:3 [Ps. 78:4]Tell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

4What 1:4 ch. 2:25; Amos 4:9the cutting locust left,

1:4 [Amos 7:1]; See Ex. 10:4the swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

1:4 ch. 2:25; Ps. 105:34; Nah. 3:15the hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

1:4 ch. 2:25; Ps. 78:46the destroying locust has eaten.

5Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and 1:5 [Isa. 24:11] wail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of 1:5 ch. 3:18; Isa. 49:26; Amos 9:13the sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

6For 1:6 ch. 2:2a nation has come up against my land,

1:6 ch. 2:2powerful and beyond number;

1:6 [Rev. 9:7, 8]its teeth are lions’ teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

7It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my 1:7 [ver. 12]fig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

8Lament like a virgin1:8 Or young woman1:8 [ver. 13]; See 2 Sam. 3:31wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

91:9 ver. 13; ch. 2:14The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

1:9 ch. 2:17; [Isa. 61:6; Ezek. 45:4]The priests mourn,

1:9 ch. 2:17; [Isa. 61:6; Ezek. 45:4]the ministers of the Lord.

10The fields are destroyed,

1:10 See Hos. 4:3the ground mourns,

because 1:10 [Hos. 2:9]the grain is destroyed,

1:10 [Hos. 2:9]the wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

111:11 [Jer. 14:4] Be ashamed,1:11 The Hebrew words for dry up and be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

1:11 ver. 17because the harvest of the field has perished.

12The vine dries up;

1:12 [ver. 7] the fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and 1:12 Isa. 24:11; Jer. 48:33gladness dries up

from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

131:13 [ver. 8; Jer. 4:8] Put on sackcloth and lament, 1:13 [See ver. 9above] O priests;

1:13 [ver. 8; Mic. 1:8] wail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, 1:13 [ver. 8; Jer. 4:8] pass the night in sackcloth,

1:13 [See ver. 9above] O ministers of my God!

1:13 ver. 9; ch. 2:14Because grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

141:14 ch. 2:15, 16; See 2 Chr. 20:3Consecrate a fast;

1:14 ch. 2:15, 16; See 2 Chr. 20:3call a solemn assembly.

Gather 1:14 ver. 2the elders

and 1:14 ver. 2all the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15Alas for the day!

1:15 ch. 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Isa. 13:6, 9; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 30:2, 3; Amos 5:18; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:14, 15; Zech. 14:1; 2 Pet. 3:10For the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty1:15 Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for Almighty it comes.

16Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

1:16 [Deut. 12:6, 7; 16:14, 15]joy and gladness

from the house of our God?

171:17 [Mal. 2:3] The seed shrivels under the clods;1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because 1:17 ver. 11the grain has dried up.

18How 1:18 ch. 2:22; [Jer. 12:4; Hos. 4:3]the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.1:18 Or are made desolate

19To you, 1:19 Ps. 50:15O Lord, I call.

1:19 Jer. 9:10For fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

1:19 Jer. 9:10and flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20Even the beasts of the field 1:20 [Job 38:41; Ps. 104:21; 145:15] pant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

1:20 [See ver. 19above]and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.

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