1
The Word of Yahuah that came to Yo’el son of Petu’el.
2
Hear this, elders, and give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3
Tell your sons concerning it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons another generation.
4
What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust ate. And what the swarming locust left, the licking locust ate. And what the licking locust left, the consuming locust ate.
5
Awake, drunkards, and weep. And wail, all drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
6
For a nation has come up against My land, mighty and without number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7
It has made My vine a desolation, and My fig tree a splintered thing. Stripping, it has surely stripped it and cast it away. Its branches have become white.
8
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9
Grain offering and drink offering have been cut off from the House of Yahuah. The kohenim, the ministers of Yahuah, mourn.
10
The field is devastated. The ground mourns. For the grain is devastated, the new wine has dried up, and the oil has languished.
11
Be ashamed, farmers. Wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and over the barley, for the harvest of the field has perished.
12
The vine has dried up, and the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple tree— all the trees of the field have dried up. Surely joy has dried up from the sons of Adam.
13
Gird yourselves and lament, kohenim. Wail, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my Elohim, for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the House of your Elohim.
14
Set apart a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, to the House of Yahuah your Elohim, and cry out to Yahuah.
15
Alas for the day! For the Day of Yahuah is near, and as destruction from Shaddai it shall come.
16
Has not food been cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the House of our Elohim?
17
The seeds shrivel beneath their clods. Storehouses are desolate. Granaries are broken down, for the grain has dried up.
18
How the beasts groan. The herds of cattle wander in confusion, because there is no pasture for them. Even the flocks of sheep bear guilt.
19
To You, Yahuah, I cry out. For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20
Even the beasts of the field pant toward You, for the channels of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.