The Locust Invasion and a Call to Turn to God
Chapter 1
1The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2Listen to this, O elders,
Give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
Has the like of this happened in your days
Or in the days of your fathers?
3Tell your children about it,
And let your children tell theirs,
And their children the next generation!
4What the cuttera has left, the locust has devoured;
What the locust has left, the grub has devoured;
And what the grub has left, the hopper has devoured.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
Wail, all you swillers of wine—
For the new wine that is denied you!
6For a nation has invaded my land,
Vast beyond counting,
With teeth like the teeth of a lion,
With the fangs of a lion’s breed.
7They have laid my vines waste
And splintered my fig trees:
They have stripped off their bark and thrown [it] away;
Their runners have turned white.
8Lament—like a maiden girt with sackcloth
For the husband of her youth!
9Offering and libation have ceased
From the House of the Lord;
The priests must mourn
Who minister to the Lord.
10The country is ravaged,
The ground must mourn;
For the new grain is ravaged,
The new wine is dried up,
The new oil has failed.
11Farmers are dismayed
And vine dressers wail
Over wheat and barley;
For the crops of the field are lost.
12The vine has dried up,
The fig tree withers,
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
All the trees of the field are sear.
And joy has dried up
Among men. [ . . . ]
Chapter 2
1Blow a horn in Zion,
Sound an alarm on My holy mount!
Let all dwellers on earth tremble,
For the day of the Lord has come!
It is close—
2A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of densest cloud
Spread like soot over the hills.
A vast, enormous horde—
Nothing like it has ever happened,
And it shall never happen again
Through the years and ages.
3Their vanguard is a consuming fire,
Their rear guard a devouring flame.
Before them the land was like the Garden of Eden,
Behind them, a desolate waste:
Nothing has escaped them.
4They have the appearance of horses,
They gallop just like steeds.
5With a clatter as of chariots
They bound on the hilltops,
With a noise like a blazing fire
Consuming straw;
Like an enormous horde
Arrayed for battle.
6Peoples tremble before them,
All faces turn ashen. [ . . . ]
10Before them earth trembles,
Heaven shakes,
Sun and moon are darkened,
And stars withdraw their brightness.
11And the Lord roars aloud
At the head of His army;
For vast indeed is His host,
Numberless are those that do His bidding.
For great is the day of the Lord,
Most terrible—who can endure it?
12“Yet even now”—says the Lord—
“Turn back to Me with all your hearts,
And with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.”
13Rend your hearts
Rather than your garments,
And turn back to the Lord your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in kindness,
And renouncing punishment.
14Who knows but He may turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind
For meal offering and drink offering
To the Lord your God?b
15Blow a horn in Zion,
Solemnize a fast,
Proclaim an assembly!
16Gather the people,
Bid the congregation purify themselves.
Bring together the old,
Gather the babes
And the sucklings at the breast;
Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber,
The bride from her canopied couch.
17Between the portico and the altar,
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep
And say:
“Oh, spare Your people, Lord!
Let not Your possession become a mockery,
To be taunted by nations!
Let not the peoples say,
‘Where is their God?’”
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Notes
The Heb. terms translated “cutter, locust, grub, and hopper” are of uncertain meaning; they probably designate stages in the development of the locust.
When the locusts depart, there will again be yield enough for offerings; see 1:9.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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