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

2 Hear this, you elders,

3 Tell your children about it,

4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!

6 For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number.

7 He has laid my vine waste,

8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth

9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the LORD’s house.

10 The field is laid waste.

11 Be confounded, you farmers!

12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered—

13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests!

14 Sanctify a fast.

15 Alas for the day!

16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes,

17 The seeds rot under their clods.

18 How the animals groan!

19 LORD, I cry to you,

20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you,