THE

PROPHET JOEL.

CH. I.]

JOEL.

INSCRIPTION.

1 The word of Jehovah, which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

I.

A description of a desolation of the land of Judah by locusts. CH. 1. 2-20.

2

HEAR this, ye old men ;

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land!

Hath such a thing happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell ye your children of it;

And let your children tell their children;

And their children another generation!

4 That which one swarm of locusts left, hath a second

swarm eaten,

And that which the second left, hath a third swarm eaten,

And that which the third left, hath a fourth swarm eaten.

5

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep!

Howl, all ye drinkers of wine,

For the new wine, which is snatched from your mouths!

6 For a nation hath come up on my land,
Strong, and not to be numbered;
Their teeth are the teeth of the lion;
They have the jaw-teeth of the lioness.
7 They have made my vine a desolation,
And my fig-tree a broken branch;

They have made it quite bare, and cast it away;
The branches thereof are made white.

8 Lament ye, like a bride,

Clothed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth! 9 The flour-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah ;

The priests, the servants of Jehovah, mourn.

10

The field is laid waste;

The ground mourneth;

11

The new wine is dried up;

The oil languisheth.

Lament, O ye husbandmen,

Howl, O ye vine-dressers,

For the wheat and the barley;

For the harvest of the field is perished!

12 The vine is dried up,

And the fig-tree languisheth;

The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple-tree

All the trees of the field, are withered;

Yea, the joy of the sons of men is withered.

13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth and mourn, ye

priests;

Howl, ye ministers of the altar!

Come lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my

God,

For the flour-offering and the drink-offering is with-
holden from the house of your God!

14 Appoint ye a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of Jehovah, your God,
And cry unto Jehovah !

15

Alas, alas the day!

For the day of Jehovah is near;

Even as destruction from the Almighty doth it come. 16 Is not our food cut off before our eyes,

Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seeds are rotten under their clods,

The storehouses are laid desolate, the garners are destroyed,

For the corn is withered.

18 How do the beasts groan,

How do the herds of oxen wander in perplexity,
Having no pasture!

The flocks of sheep also are destroyed.

19 To thee, O Jehovah, do I call,

For a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert, And a flame hath burned all the trees of the field! 20 The beasts of the field, also, cry unto thee,

For the streams of water are dried up,

And a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert!

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