Joel 1
1The Devar Hashem that came to Yoel Ben Petuel: 1
2Hear this, ye zekenim, 1 and give ear, all ye yoshvei ha'aretz (inhabitants of the land). 1 Hath anything like this been in your days, 1 or even in the days of your avot (fathers)? 1
3Tell ye your banim (children) of it, 1 and let your banim tell their banim, 1 and their banim to the next generation. 1
4That which the locust swarm hath left 1 hath the arbeh (great locust) eaten; 1 and that which the arbeh hath left 1 hath the crawling locust eaten; 1 and that which the crawling locust hath left 1 hath the other locust eaten. 1
5Awake, ye shikkorim (drunkards), and weep; 1 and wail, all ye drinkers of yayin, 1 because of the new wine, for it is cut off 1 from your mouth. 1
6For a Goy is come up upon my land, 1 strong, and without number, 1 whose teeth are the teeth of an aryeh (lion), 1 and he hath the fangs of a lioness. 1
7He hath laid my gefen (vine) waste, 1 and barked my teenah (fig tree); 1 he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; 1 the branches thereof are made white. 1
8Lament like a betulah girded with sackcloth 1 for the ba'al (husband) of her youth. 1
9The minchah and the nesekh is cut off 1 from the Beis Hashem; 1 the kohanim, the mesharetim (ministers) 1 of Hashem, mourn. 1
10The sadeh (field) is wasted, 1 the adamah (land) mourneth; 1 for the grain is wasted; 1 the new wine is dried up, 1 the oil languisheth. 1
11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; + 1:11 i.e., farmers 1 wail, O ye vinedressers, 1 for the wheat and for the barley; 1 because the katzir (harvest) of the sadeh is perished. 1
12The gefen is dried up, 1 and the teenah languisheth; 1 the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, 1 even all the trees of the sadeh, are withered; 1 because sasson (joy) is withered away from the bnei Adam. 1
13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye kohanim; 1 howl, ye mesharetim of the Mizbe'ach; 1 come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye mesharetim of my G-d; 1 for the minchah and the nesekh 1 is withheld from the Beis of your G-d. + 1:13 i.e., the Beis Hamikdash 1
14Sanctify ye a tzom (fast), call an atzarah (solemn assembly), 1 gather the zekenim and all the yoshvei ha'aretz 1 into the Beis Hashem Eloheichem, 1 and cry unto Hashem. 1
15Alas for the day! For the Yom Hashem + 1:15 See Isa 13:9-13; Am 5:18-20; 8:9-14; Zeph 1:14-18 on the coming Day of the L-rd when Hashem intervenes to execute mishpat and righteousness is karov (near, at hand), 1 and like destruction from Shaddai shall it come. 1
16Is not the okhel (food) 1 cut off before our eyes, 1 yea, simchah (joy) and gladness from the Beis Eloheinu? + 1:16 the Beis Hamikdash 1
17The seed is rotten under their clods, 1 the otzarot (storehouses) are laid desolate, 1 the barns are broken down; 1 for the grain is withered. 1
18How do the beasts groan! 1 The herds of cattle are perplexed, 1 because they have no pasture; 1 yea, the edrei hatzon (flocks of sheep) are made desolate. 1
19To Thee, Hashem, will I cry; 1 for the eish hath devoured 1 the pastures of the midbar, 1 and the flame hath burned 1 all the trees of the field. 1
20The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee; 1 for the rivers of mayim (water) are dried up, 1 and the eish hath devoured the pastures of the midbar.