Joel 1

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

The word of the LORD comes to Joel son of Pethuel, calling the elders and inhabitants of the land to witness an unprecedented devastation. Successive waves of locusts, compared to a powerful and countless invading nation, strip the grapevines, splinter the fig trees, and destroy all vegetation. This massive crop failure causes the grain, new wine, and oil to perish, depriving the house of the LORD of offerings and cutting off wine from drinkers. Farmers, vinedressers, and priests are summoned to mourn in sackcloth, fast, and gather at the temple as the Day of the LORD approaches with destruction. Storehouses lie in ruins, cattle and sheep wander in confusion without pasture, and the streams of water dry up while fire consumes the open pastures and orchard trees.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel: ²Hear 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? ³Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. ⁴What 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. ⁵Wake 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. ⁶For 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. ⁷It 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. ⁸Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth. ⁹Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. ¹⁰The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails. ¹¹Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. ¹²The 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. ¹³Put 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. ¹⁴Consecrate 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. ¹⁵Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. ¹⁶Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? ¹⁷The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away. ¹⁸How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. ¹⁹To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. ²⁰Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.