Read Amplified Bible, 2015 Joel 1 Bible Online

Joel 1 - Amplified Bible, 2015 bible

Joel 1

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

²Hear this, O elders, Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing as this occurred in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?

³Tell your children about it, And let your children tell their children, And their children the next generation.

⁴What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten [in judgment of Judah].

⁵Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep; Wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the [fresh] sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.

⁶For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts], Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷It has made My vine (My people) a waste and object of horror, And splintered and broken My fig tree. It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away; Their branches have become white.

⁸Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed with[2] sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].

⁹The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD; The priests mourn Who minister to the LORD.

¹⁰The field is ruined, The ground mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The fresh oil fails.

¹¹Be ashamed, O farmers; Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley, Because the harvest of the field has perished.

¹²The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up, Indeed, joy dries up and withdraws From the sons of men.

¹³Clothe yourselves with sackcloth And lament (cry out in grief), O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth [and pray without ceasing], O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly, Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD [in penitent pleadings].

¹⁵Alas for the day! For the [judgment] day of the LORD is at hand, And it will come [upon the nation] as a destruction from the[3] Almighty.

¹⁶Has not the food been cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seeds [of grain] shrivel under the clods, The storehouses are desolate and empty, The barns are in ruins Because the grain is dried up.

¹⁸How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered and wander aimlessly Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

¹⁹O LORD, I cry out to You, For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the wild animals pant [in longing] for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.