10 The field is (A)ruined,
(B)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine has dried up,
Fresh oil has [a]failed.
11 (C)Be ashamed, you farm workers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the (D)harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The (E)vine has dried up
And the fig tree has withered;
The (F)pomegranate, the (G)palm also, and the (H)apple tree,
All the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, (I)joy has dried up
From the sons of mankind.

13 (J)Put on sackcloth
And mourn, you priests;
(K)Wail, you ministers of the altar!
Come, (L)spend the night in sackcloth,
You ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Have been withheld from the house of your God.

Starvation and Drought

14 (M)Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a (N)solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And (O)cry out to the Lord.
15 (P)Woe for the day!
For the (Q)day of the Lord is near,
And it will come as (R)destruction from the [b]Almighty.
16 Has (S)food not been cut off before our eyes, and
Joy and (T)rejoicing from the house of our God?
17 The [c](U)seeds have dried up under their shovels;
The storehouses have become desolate,
The grain silos are ruined,
Because the grain has dried up.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:10 Lit dried out
  2. Joel 1:15 Heb Shaddai
  3. Joel 1:17 Or dried figs

10 The fields are ruined,
    the ground is dried up;(A)
the grain is destroyed,
    the new wine(B) is dried up,
    the olive oil fails.(C)

11 Despair, you farmers,(D)
    wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,(E)
    because the harvest of the field is destroyed.(F)
12 The vine is dried up
    and the fig tree is withered;(G)
the pomegranate,(H) the palm and the apple[a] tree—
    all the trees of the field—are dried up.(I)
Surely the people’s joy
    is withered away.

A Call to Lamentation

13 Put on sackcloth,(J) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister(K) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(L)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(M)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land(N)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out(O) to the Lord.(P)

15 Alas for that(Q) day!
    For the day of the Lord(R) is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[b](S)

16 Has not the food been cut off(T)
    before our very eyes—
joy and gladness(U)
    from the house of our God?(V)
17 The seeds are shriveled
    beneath the clods.[c](W)
The storehouses are in ruins,
    the granaries have been broken down,
    for the grain has dried up.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot
  2. Joel 1:15 Hebrew Shaddai
  3. Joel 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.