Joel 1

An Invasion of Locusts

1 The word of the LORD that came to a Joel the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
b Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers? 3 c Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.

4 d What the chewing 1 locust 2 left, the e swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you f drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
g For it has been cut off from your mouth. 6 For h a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
i His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a 3 fierce lion. 7 He has j laid waste My vine,
And 4 ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.

8 k Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For l the husband of her youth. 9 m The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the LORD;
The priests n mourn, who minister to the LORD. 10 The field is wasted,
o The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
p The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.

11 q Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished. 12 r The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree -
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely s joy has withered away from the sons of men.

A Call to Repentance

13 t Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.

14 u Consecrate a fast,
Call v a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And w all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.

15 x Alas for the day!
For y the day of the LORD is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. 16 Is not the food z cut off before our eyes,
a Joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered. 18 How b the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep 5 suffer punishment.

19 O LORD, c to You I cry out;
For d fire has devoured the 6 open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20 The beasts of the field also e cry out to You,
For f the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the 7 open pastures.

  1. Cross References
    Acts 2:16
    But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:7
    Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.
  3. Cross References
    Exodus 10:2
    "and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD."
    Psalms 78:4
    We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
    Isaiah 38:19
    The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
  4. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:38
    You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.
    Joel 2:25
    So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
    Amos 4:9
    I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:4
    And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:11
    Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
    Isaiah 28:1
    Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine!
    Hosea 7:5
    In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 32:10
    In a year and some days You will be troubled, you complacent women; For the vintage will fail, The gathering will not come.
  8. Cross References
    Proverbs 30:25
    The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer.
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.
    Joel 2:11
    The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
    Joel 2:25
    So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
  9. Cross References
    Revelation 9:8
    They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:6
    I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.
    Amos 4:9
    I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:12
    And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
  12. Cross References
    Proverbs 2:17
    Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.
    Jeremiah 3:4
    Will you not from this time cry to Me, 'My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
  13. Cross References
    Hosea 9:4
    They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; All who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; It shall not come into the house of the LORD.
    Joel 1:13
    Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.
    Joel 2:14
    Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him - A grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God?
  14. Cross References
    Joel 2:17
    Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 12:11
    They have made it desolate; Desolate, it mourns to Me; The whole land is made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.
    Hosea 3:4
    For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:7
    The new wine fails, the vine languishes, All the merry-hearted sigh.
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:3
    Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.
    Jeremiah 14:4
    Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads.
    Amos 5:16
    Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this: " There shall be wailing in all streets, And they shall say in all the highways, 'Alas! Alas!' They shall call the farmer to mourning, And skillful lamenters to wailing.
  18. Cross References
    Joel 1:10
    The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails.
    Habakkuk 3:17
    Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls -
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 16:10
    Gladness is taken away, And joy from the plentiful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing, Nor will there be shouting; No treaders will tread out wine in the presses; I have made their shouting cease.
    Isaiah 24:11
    There is a cry for wine in the streets, All joy is darkened, The mirth of the land is gone.
    Jeremiah 48:33
    Joy and gladness are taken From the plentiful field And from the land of Moab; I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; No one will tread with joyous shouting - Not joyous shouting!
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:8
    For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, Lament and wail. For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us.
    Ezekiel 7:18
    They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads.
  21. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 20:3
    And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
    Joel 2:15
    Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly.
    Joel 2:16
    Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room.
  22. Cross References
    Leviticus 23:36
    For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.
  23. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 20:13
    Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:9
    Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.
    Jeremiah 30:7
    Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.
    Amos 5:16
    Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this: " There shall be wailing in all streets, And they shall say in all the highways, 'Alas! Alas!' They shall call the farmer to mourning, And skillful lamenters to wailing.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:6
    Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
    Ezekiel 7:2 - 12
    And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: 'An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 3:1
    For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water.
    Amos 4:6
    Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.
  27. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:7
    And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
    Psalms 43:4
    Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.
  28. Cross References
    1 Kings 8:5
    Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
    Jeremiah 12:4
    How long will the land mourn, And the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, For the wickedness of those who dwell there, Because they said, "He will not see our final end.
    Jeremiah 14:5
    Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass.
    Jeremiah 14:6
    And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass.
    Hosea 4:3
    Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
  29. Cross References
    Psalms 50:15
    Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
    Micah 7:7
    Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:10
    I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.
    Amos 7:4
    Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory.
  31. Cross References
    Job 38:41
    Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?
    Psalms 104:21
    The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their food from God.
    Psalms 147:9
    He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry.
    Joel 1:18
    How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
  32. Cross References
    1 Kings 17:7
    And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
    1 Kings 18:5
    And Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not have to kill any livestock.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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