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        What the grasshoppers have left, the swarming locusts have eaten.
        What the swarming locusts have left, the young locusts have eaten.
        What the young locusts have left, the mature locusts have eaten.[a]
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail,[b] all you wine drinkers,
    because of the sweet wine[c] that has been snatched from your mouth.
        A nation has come up into my land, powerful and without number.
        It has teeth like a lion and fangs like a lioness.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise distinctions between the four Hebrew terms for locusts are not certain. The terms may refer to types of locusts or to different stages of the locusts’ life cycle (though the terms do not occur in the same order in 1:4 and 2:25). Etymologically the four terms seem to refer to gnawers, swarmers, hoppers, and destroyers. In any case, the point of the heaping up of terms is total destruction.
  2. Joel 1:5 Or howl
  3. Joel 1:5 New or sweet wine is not unfermented grape juice, but wine that is still sweet because it has not yet been soured by continued fermentation.

What the locust(A) swarm has left
    the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
    the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left(B)
    other locusts[a] have eaten.(C)

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you drinkers of wine;(D)
wail because of the new wine,
    for it has been snatched(E) from your lips.
A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;(F)
it has the teeth(G) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.