Joel 1 – New International Reader’s Version NIRV

New International Reader’s Version

Joel 1:1-20

1A message from the Lord came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. Here is what Joel said.

Locusts Attack the Land

2Elders, listen to me.

Pay attention, all you who live in the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life?

Did it ever happen to your people

who lived long ago?

3Tell your children about it.

Let them tell their children.

And let their children tell it

to those who live after them.

4The giant locusts have eaten

what the common locusts have left.

The young locusts have eaten

what the giant locusts have left.

And other locusts have eaten

what the young locusts have left.

5Get up and weep, you people who drink too much!

Cry, all you who drink wine!

Cry because the fresh wine

has been taken away from you.

6The locusts are like a mighty army

that has marched into our land.

There are so many of them

they can’t even be counted.

Their teeth are as sharp as a lion’s teeth.

They are like the fangs of a female lion.

7The locusts have completely destroyed our vines.

They have wiped out our fig trees.

They’ve stripped off the bark and thrown it away.

They’ve left the branches bare.

8My people, mourn like a virgin

who is dressed in the clothes of sadness.

She is sad because she has lost

the young man she was going to marry.

9No one brings grain offerings and drink offerings

to the Lord’s house anymore.

So the priests who serve the Lord

are filled with sorrow.

10Our fields are wiped out.

The ground is dried up.

The grain is destroyed.

The fresh wine is gone.

And there isn’t any more olive oil.

11Farmers, be sad.

Cry, you who grow vines.

Mourn because the wheat and barley are gone.

The crops in the fields are destroyed.

12The vines and fig trees are dried up.

The pomegranate, palm and apple trees

don’t have any fruit on them.

In fact, all the trees in the fields are dried up.

And my people’s joy has faded away.

A Call to Mourn

13Priests, put on the clothing of sadness and mourn.

Cry, you who serve at the altar.

Come, you who serve my God in the temple.

Spend the night dressed in the clothes of sadness.

Weep because no one brings grain offerings and drink offerings

to the house of your God anymore.

14Announce a holy fast.

Tell the people not to eat anything.

Gather them together for a special service.

Send for the elders

and all who live in the land.

Have them come to the house of the Lord your God.

And pray to him.

15The day of the Lord is near.

How sad it will be on that day!

The Mighty One is coming to destroy you.

16Our food has been taken away

right in front of our eyes.

There isn’t any joy or gladness

in the house of our God.

17The seeds have dried up in the ground.

The grain is also gone.

The storerooms have been destroyed.

The barns are broken down.

18Listen to the cattle groan!

The herds wander around.

They don’t have any grass to eat.

The flocks of sheep are also suffering.

19Lord, I call out to you.

Fire has burned up the desert grasslands.

Flames have destroyed all the trees in the fields.

20Even the wild animals cry out to you for help.

The streams of water have dried up.

Fire has burned up the desert grasslands.