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Joel

Predicts a locust plague and future blessings, calling for repentance.

Chapter 1

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

*The message from God given to Joel, son of Pethuel.

2 Hear 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?

*Listen, elderly people, and pay attention, everyone living here on earth. Has this event happened during your time or even in the time of your ancestors?

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

*Tell your kids about this, and have them tell their kids, and then their kids can tell their grandkids too, passing it down to future generations.

4 That 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.

*The palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, and caterpillar have all eaten different parts of the plants, leaving nothing for each other.

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

*Wake up, people who drink too much, and cry; and all you who drink wine, be sad because you can't have more wine; it has been taken away from you.

6 For 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.

*A powerful, large group of people has come to my land. They have strong teeth like a lion's and big back teeth like a big lion's.

7 He 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.

*He destroyed my grape plant and stripped my fig tree. He removed all its leaves and threw it away. Its branches are now white.

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

*Mourn like a young woman wearing rough cloth, missing her first husband.

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

*The food and drink given to God are no longer allowed in God's home; the priests who serve God are sad.

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

*The fields are empty and the land is sad because the crops have died. There's no more new wine or oil left.

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

*Be embarrassed, farmers; cry out, grape caretakers, for the wheat and barley crops; since the field's harvest has failed.

12 The 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.

*The plants are dry and weak, including fig, pomegranate, palm, and apple trees. All the field's trees are like this because people have lost their happiness.

13 Gird 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.

*Put on robes of mourning, priests, and cry: pray, religious leaders, wail: spend all night wearing sackcloth, servants of my God: because the offerings of food and drink are not allowed in God's home.

14 Sanctify 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.

*Set apart a time for fasting, have a serious gathering, bring together the older people and everyone living in the area to God's house, and pray to God.

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

*Oh no, the day is coming! It's soon, and it will be a terrible disaster sent by the all-powerful God.

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

*Isn't the meat taken away right before us, yes, joy and happiness also removed from God's house?

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

*The seeds are bad beneath the dirt clumps. The storage places are empty. The barns are falling apart. This happens because the grain has dried up.

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

*The animals make sad noises because there is not enough food for cows and sheep. This makes them confused and lonely.

19 O 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.

*Dear GOD, I will call out to you because the fire has destroyed the grasslands in the desert, and the flames have consumed all the trees in the fields.

20 The 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.

*Wild animals ask for your help too. This is because the water in the rivers has disappeared, and fire has destroyed the grasslands in the desert.

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