Joe 1 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord that came to Joel , the son of Pethuel :

2 ^aHear this, ^byou elders;
give ear, ^call inhabitants of the land!
^dHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 ^eTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What ^fthe cutting locust left,
^gthe swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
^hthe hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
ⁱthe destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and ^jwail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of ^kthe sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For ^la nation has come up against my land,
^mpowerful and beyond number;
ⁿits teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my ^ofig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin ^{▼▼Or young woman} ^qwearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 ^rThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
^sThe priests mourn,
^tthe ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
^uthe ground mourns,
because ^vthe grain is destroyed,
^wthe wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 ^xBe ashamed, ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for dry up and be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike} O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
^zbecause the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
^aathe fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and ^abgladness dries up
from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 ^acPut on sackcloth and lament, ^adO priests;
^aewail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, ^afpass the night in sackcloth,
^agO ministers of my God!
^ahBecause grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 ^aiConsecrate a fast;
^ajcall a solemn assembly.
Gather ^akthe elders
and ^alall the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
^amFor the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty ^{▼▼ Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for Almighty} it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
^aojoy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 ^apThe seed shrivels under the clods; ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain}
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because ^arthe grain has dried up.
18 How ^asthe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer. ^{▼▼Or are made desolate}
19 To you, ^auO Lord, I call.
^avFor fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
^awand flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field ^axpant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
^ayand fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.