Joel 1:1-7

The Devastation by Locusts

¹The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

2Hear this, you elders,

And listen, all inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this happened in your days,

Or in your fathers’ days?

3Tell your sons about it,

And have your sons tell their sons,

And their sons the next generation.

4What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;

And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;

And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

5Awake, you heavy drinkers, and weep;

And wail, all you wine drinkers,

Because of the sweet wine,

For it has been eliminated from your mouth.

6For a nation has invaded my land,

Mighty and without number;

Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And it has the jaws of a lioness.

7It has made my vine a waste

And my fig tree a stump.

It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;

Their branches have become white.

Starvation and Drought