King James Version KJV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
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The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
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Hear this, O elders, give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
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Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
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What 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, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
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Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
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For a nation has invaded my land, powerful and innumerable; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
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It has laid waste my vines, and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches have turned white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
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Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.
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The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
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The fields are devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails.
11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
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Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
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The vine withers, the fig tree droops. Pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the field are dried up; surely, joy withers away among the people.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
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Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God! Grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
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Sanctify 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! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
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Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
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Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
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The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed.
18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
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How the animals groan! The herds of cattle wander about because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dazed.
19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
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To you, O Lord, I cry. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
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Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.