1 Joel son of Pethuel received this message from the Lord: 2 Leaders, listen to this message! Listen to me, all you people that live in the land. Has anything like this happened before during your lifetime? No! Did anything like this happen during your fathers’ lifetime? No! 3 You will tell these things to your children. Your children will tell their children. And your grandchildren will tell the people of the next generation. 4 What the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten. And what the swarming locust has left, the hopping locust has eaten. And what the hopping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten! 5 Drunks, wake up and cry! All of you people that drink wine, cry. Why? Because your sweet wine is finished. You won’t get another taste of that wine. 6 A large and powerful nation came to attack my country. Its soldiers were too many to count. Its ˻weapons˼ were as sharp as a lion’s teeth and as powerful as a lion’s jaw. 7 It destroyed my grapevine. Its good vines withered and died. It destroyed my fig tree, stripped off the bark and threw it away. 8 Cry like the young woman that was ready to be married, and her husband-to-be was killed. 9 Priests, servants of the Lord, cry! Why? Because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in the Lord’s temple. 10 The fields are ruined. Even the ground is crying. Why? Because the grain is destroyed; the new wine is dried up, and the olive oil is gone. 11 Be sad, farmers! Cry loud, grape farmers! ˻Cry˼ for the wheat and for the barley! Why? Because the harvest in the field is lost. 12 The vines have become dry. And the fig tree is dying. All the trees in the field—the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple—have withered. And happiness among the people is dead. 13 Priests, put on your clothes of sadness and cry loudly. Servants of the altar, cry loudly. Servants of my God, you will sleep in your clothes of sadness. Why? Because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in God’s temple. 14 Tell the people that there will be a special time for not eating food. Call the people together for a special meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people that live in the land together. Bring them to the temple of the Lord your God, and pray to the Lord. 15 Be sad! Why? Because the Lord’s special day is near. At that time, punishment will come like an attack from God All-Powerful. 16 Our food is gone. Joy and happiness are gone from the temple of our God. 17 ˻We planted seeds,˼ but the seeds became dry and dead lying in the soil. Our plants are dry and dead. Our barns are empty and falling down. 18 The animals ˻are hungry and˼ groaning. The herds of cattle wander around, confused. They have no grass to eat. The sheep are dying. 19 Lord, I am calling to you ˻for help˼. Fire has changed our green fields into a desert. Flames have burned all the trees in the field. 20 Wild animals also need your help. The streams are dry—there is no water! Fire has changed our green fields into a desert.
