1. The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2. Listen to this, you elders!Pay attention, all who dwell in the land!Has anything like this ever happened in your lifetime,or in the lifetime of your ancestors?
3. Report it to your children.Have your children report it to their children,and their children to the next generation.
4. What the cutter left,the swarming locust has devoured;What the swarming locust left,the hopper has devoured;What the hopper left,the consuming locust has devoured.
5. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;wail, all you wine drinkers,Over the new wine,taken away from your mouths.
6. For a nation invaded my land,powerful and past counting,With teeth like a lion’s,fangs like those of a lioness.
7. It has stripped bare my vines,splintered my fig tree,Shearing off its bark and throwing it away,until its branches turn white.
8. Wail like a young woman dressed in sackclothfor the husband of her youth.