Joel 1

A devastating plague of locusts has stripped the land bare — what one swarm left, the next devoured. The fields are ruined, the vines dried up, the grain offering and drink offering cut off from the house of the LORD. Joel calls the priests and elders to proclaim a solemn fast and cry out to the LORD, for the day of the LORD is at hand.

v	King James Version	Modern English
1	The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.	The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2	Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?	Hear this, You elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of Your ancestors?
3	Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.	Tell it to Your children, and let Your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
4	That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.	What the locust swarm has left, the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left, the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left, other locusts have eaten.
5	Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.	Wake up, You drunkards, and weep! Wail, all You drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from Your lips.
6	For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.	A nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness.
7	He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.	It has laid waste My vines and ruined My fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.
8	Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.	Mourn like a young woman dressed in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth.
9	The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.	Grain offerings and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, those who minister before the LORD.
10	The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.	The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails.
11	Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.	Despair, You farmers; wail, You vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
12	The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.	The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree — all the trees of the field — are dried up. Surely the people's joy is withered away.
13	Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.	Put on sackcloth, You priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, You who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of Your God.
14	Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.	Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD Your God, and cry out to the LORD.
15	Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.	What a dreadful day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16	Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?	Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes — joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17	The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.	The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
18	How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.	How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19	O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.	To You, LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20	The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.	Even the wild animals pant for You; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.