Joel

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

1This is the message the LORD gave to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

2Listen, old men. Listen, everyone who lives in this land. Has anything like this ever happened while you were alive? Did it happen back when your fathers were alive?

3Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

3Tell your children about it. Let your children tell their children. Let those children tell the ones who come after them.

4That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

4One kind of locust ate the crops. Then another kind ate what was left. Then another kind ate what that one left. Then another kind ate the rest.

NoteThe KJV uses four old words here: palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, and caterpiller. All four are names for locusts, which are grasshoppers that fly in huge swarms and eat every green plant.

5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

5Wake up, you who drink too much, and cry. Wail, all of you who drink wine. The sweet new wine is gone from your mouths.

6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

6A nation has come into my land. It is strong, and no one can count them. Their teeth are like a lion's teeth. They have the sharp fangs of a lioness.

7He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

7It has ruined my grapevines. It has broken my fig tree. It stripped the bark right off and threw it away. The branches are left bare and white.

8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

8Cry the way a young woman cries in rough, scratchy cloth. She is grieving because the husband she married has died.

9The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.

9Gifts of grain and gifts of wine no longer come to the LORD's house. The priests are sad. Priests are the men who served God at his house.

NoteThe KJV says "meat offering." In 1611, "meat" meant food of any kind. This gift was made of grain, not meat.

10The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

10The fields are ruined. The land is dry and mourning. The grain is destroyed. The new wine has dried up. The olive oil has run out.

NoteThe KJV word "corn" means grain, like wheat or barley. It does not mean corn on the cob.

11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

11Farmers, be upset. Wail, you who care for the grapevines. The wheat and the barley are gone. The harvest in the field is lost.

12The vine is dried 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 joy is withered away from the sons of men.

12The grapevine is dried up. The fig tree is dying. The pomegranate, palm, and apple trees are dry. Every tree in the orchard is dry. The joy of people has dried up too.

13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

13Priests, put on rough, scratchy cloth and cry. Wail, you who serve at the altar. Come and lie all night in that rough cloth, you who serve my God. Gifts of grain and wine no longer come to your God's house.

14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.

14Set apart a special time when no one eats. Call everyone to a serious meeting. Gather the leaders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God. Cry out to the LORD.

15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

15Oh, what a day! The day of the LORD is close. It will come as ruin from the God who has all power.

16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

16Our food has been taken away right in front of our eyes. Joy and gladness are gone from the house of our God.

17The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

17The seeds shrivel up under the dirt. The storerooms are empty and ruined. The barns are broken down. The grain has dried up.

18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

18Listen to the cattle groan! The herds wander around, not knowing where to go. They have no grass to eat. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

19O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

19LORD, I call out to you. Fire has eaten up the open grasslands. Flames have burned all the trees in the fields.

20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

20Even the wild animals cry out to you. The streams of water have dried up. Fire has eaten up the open grasslands.