Joel Chapter
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- THE word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of
Bathuel.
- Hear these words, ye elders, and hearken all ye that
inhabit the land. [a] Have such things
happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
- Tell your children concerning them, and let your children
tell their children, and their children another generation.
- The leavings of the [b] caterpillar
has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the [b] palmerworm eaten, and the leavings
of the palmerworm has the [b] cankerworm
eaten.
- Awake, ye drunkards, from [c] your
wine, and weep: mourn, all ye that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy
and gladness are removed from your mouth.
- For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land,
their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth those of a
lion's whelp.
- He has ruined my vine, and utterly broken my fig-trees: he has
utterly searched my vine, and cast it down; he has [d] peeled its branches.
- Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the [e] husband of her youth.
- The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of
the Lord: Mourn, ye priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.
- For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn
languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;
- the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the
wheat and barley; for the [f] harvest has
perished from off the field.
- The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the
pomegranate, and palm-tree, and apple, and all the trees of the field
are dried up: for the sons of men [g] have
abolished joy.
- Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests:
mourn, ye that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, ye that
minister to God: for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld
from the house of your God.
- Sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service, gather the
elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of
your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,
- Alas, alas, alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is nigh, and
it will come as trouble upon trouble.
- Your meat has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and
gladness from out of the house of your God.
- The heifers have started at their mangers, the treasures are
abolished, the wine-presses are broken down; for the corn is
withered.
- What shall we store up for ourselves? the herds of cattle have
mourned, because they had no pasture; and the flocks of sheep have
been utterly destroyed.
- To thee, 0 Lord, will I cry: for fire has devoured the fair places
of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up all the trees of the
field.
- And the cattle of the field have looked up to thee: for the [h] fountains of waters have been dried up,
and fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness.
[a] Gr. if.
[b] It is difficult to assign the exact
meaning of the Greek.
[c] Gr. their.
[d] Gr. whitened, Gen. 30. 37.
[e] i.e. one who married her as a
virgin.
[f] Or, vintage.
[g] Gr. disfigured, or,
disgraced.
[h] Gr. issues. See 2 Ki. 22. 16. Ezek. 47. 4
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]