1. The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2. Hear this, you elders;listen, all who live in the land.Has anything like this ever happened in your daysor in the days of your ancestors?
3. Tell it to your children,and let your children tell it to their children,and their children to the next generation.
4. What the locust swarm has leftthe great locusts have eaten;what the great locusts have leftthe young locusts have eaten;what the young locusts have leftother locusts have eaten.
5. 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. A nation has invaded my land,a mighty army without number;it has the teeth of a lion,the fangs of a lioness.
7. It has laid waste my vinesand ruined my fig-trees.It has stripped off their barkand thrown it away,leaving their branches white.