1 The word of the Lord that came to aJoel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts
2 bHear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
cHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 dTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 eWhat the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a fnation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
gits teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin1 wearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The hgrain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
iThe priests mourn,
the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
jthe ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 kBe ashamed,2 O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
from the children of man.
A Call to Repentance
13 lPut on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 mConsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
nFor the oday of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty3 it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;4
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.5
19 To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
the ppastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
The Scroll and the Lamb
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne aa scroll written within and on the back, bsealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, cthe Lion dof the tribe of Judah, the eRoot of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a fLamb standing, as though it had been gslain, with seven horns and with hseven eyes, which are ithe seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the jtwenty-four elders kfell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, lwhich are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a mnew song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you nransomed people for God
from every otribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and ppriests to our God,
and they shall qreign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of rmany angels, snumbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
t“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, u“Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
