The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 The word of ADONAI that came to Yo'el the son of P'tu'el:
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The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 "Hear this, you leaders! Listen, all who live in the land! Has anything like this ever happened in your days, or in your ancestors' days?
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Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it, and have them tell it to theirs, and have them tell the next generation.
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Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another generation.
4 What the cutter-worms left, the locusts ate; what the locusts left, the grasshoppers ate; what the grasshoppers left, the shearer-worms ate.
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What the worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.
5 Wake up, drunkards, and weep! wail, all you who drink wine, because the juice of the grape will be withheld from your mouth.
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Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.
6 For a mighty and numberless nation has invaded my land. His teeth are lion's teeth; his fangs are those of a lioness.
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For a nation has come up over my land, strong and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the back teeth of a great lion.
7 He has reduced my vines to waste, my fig trees to splinters - he plucked them bare, stripped their bark and left their branches white."
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By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
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Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.
9 Grain offering and drink offering are cut off from the house of ADONAI. The cohanim are mourning, those who are serving ADONAI.
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The meal offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's servants, are sorrowing.
10 The fields are ruined, the ground is grieving; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dried up, and the olive oil is wretched.
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The fields are wasted, the land has become dry; for the grain is wasted, the new wine is kept back, the oil is poor.
11 Despair, you farmers; lament, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley - the harvest from the fields is lost.
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The farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.
12 The vines have withered, the fig trees wilted, also the pomegranate, date-palm and apple tree - all the trees in the fields have withered, and the people's joy has withered away.
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The vine has become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone from the sons of men.
13 Cohanim, put on sackcloth, and weep! Wail, you who serve at the altar! Come, lie in sackcloth all night long, you who serve my God! For the grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
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Put haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back from the house of your God.
14 Proclaim a holy fast, call for a solemn assembly, gather the leaders and all who live in the land to the house of ADONAI your God, and cry out to ADONAI,
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Let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting, let the old men, even all the people of the land, come together to the house of the Lord your God, crying out to the Lord.
15 "Oh no! The Day! The Day of ADONAI is upon us! As destruction from Shaddai it is coming!
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Sorrow for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Ruler of all it will come.
16 The food is cut off before our very eyes, also joy and gladness from the house of our God.
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Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight from the house of our God?
17 The seed-grain is rotting in its furrows; the granaries are deserted, the barns in ruins; because the grain has withered.
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The grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.
18 How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. The flocks of sheep bear the punishment, too.
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What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen.
19 ADONAI, I cry out to you! For the fire has consumed the pastures in the desert, and the flame set ablaze all the trees in the fields.
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O Lord, my cry goes up to you: for fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste, and all the trees of the field are burned with its flame.
20 Even the wild animals come to you, panting, because the streambeds have dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures in the desert."
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The beasts of the field are turning to you with desire: for the water-streams are dry and fire has put an end to the grass-lands of the waste.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.