The Invasion of Locusts 1 DRA The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel. BSB BSB: This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
2 DRA Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? BSB BSB: Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers?
3 DRA Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. BSB BSB: Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
4 DRA That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed. BSB BSB: What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
5 DRA Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth. BSB BSB: Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 DRA For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion’s whelp. BSB BSB: For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness.
7 DRA He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. BSB BSB: It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.
A Call to Mourning 8 DRA Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. BSB BSB: Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
9 DRA Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have mourned: BSB BSB: Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.
10 DRA The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished. BSB BSB: The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.
11 DRA The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. BSB BSB: Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 DRA The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men. BSB BSB: The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.
A Call to Repentance (Amos 5:4–15; Zephaniah 2:1–3; Luke 13:1–5)
13 DRA Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God. BSB BSB: Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
14 DRA Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord: BSB BSB: Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
15 DRA Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty. BSB BSB: Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 DRA Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? BSB BSB: Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 DRA The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded. BSB BSB: The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
18 DRA Why did the beast groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished. BSB BSB: How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 DRA To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country. BSB BSB: To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.
20 DRA Yea and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness. BSB BSB: Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.