New Century Version NCV
Good News Translation GNT
1
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This is the Lord's message to Joel son of Pethuel.
2 Older leaders, listen to this message. Listen to me, all you who live in the land. Nothing like this has ever happened during your lifetime or during your ancestors' lifetimes.
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Pay attention, you older people; everyone in Judah, listen. Has anything like this ever happened in your time or the time of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about these things, let your children tell their children, and let your grandchildren tell their children.
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Tell your children about it; they will tell their children, who in turn will tell the next generation.
4 What the cutting locusts have left, the swarming locusts have eaten; what the swarming locusts have left, the hopping locusts have eaten, and what the hopping locusts have left, the destroying locustsn have eaten.
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Swarm after swarm of locusts settled on the crops; what one swarm left, the next swarm devoured.
5 Drunks, wake up and cry! All you people who drink wine, cry! Cry because your wine has been taken away from your mouths.
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Wake up and weep, you drunkards; cry, you wine-drinkers; the grapes for making new wine have been destroyed.
6 A powerful nation has come into my land with too many soldiers to count. It has teeth like a lion, jaws like a female lion.
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An army of locusts has attacked our land; they are powerful and too many to count; their teeth are as sharp as those of a lion.
7 It has made my grapevine a waste and made my fig tree a stump. It has stripped all the bark off my trees and left the branches white.
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They have destroyed our grapevines and chewed up our fig trees. They have stripped off the bark, till the branches are white.
8 Cry as a young woman cries when the man she was going to marry has died.
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Cry, you people, like a young woman who mourns the death of the man she was going to marry.
9 There will be no more grain or drink offerings to offer in the Temple of the Lord. Because of this, the priests, the servants of the Lord, are sad.
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There is no grain or wine to offer in the Temple; the priests mourn because they have no offerings for the Lord.
10 The fields are ruined; the ground is dried up. The grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the olive oil runs out.
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The fields are bare; the ground mourns because the grain is destroyed, the grapes are dried up, and the olive trees are withered.
11 Be sad, farmers. Cry loudly, you who grow grapes. Cry for the wheat and the barley. Cry because the harvest of the field is lost.
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Grieve, you farmers; cry, you that take care of the vineyards, because the wheat, the barley, yes all the crops are destroyed.
12 The vines have become dry, and the fig trees are dried up. The pomegranate trees, the date palm trees, the apple trees -- all the trees in the field have died. And the happiness of the people has died, too.
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The grapevines and fig trees have withered; all the fruit trees have wilted and died. The joy of the people is gone.
13 Priests, put on your rough cloth and cry to show your sadness. Servants of the altar, cry out loud. Servants of my God, keep your rough cloth on all night to show your sadness. Cry because there will be no more grain or drink offerings to offer in the Temple of your God.
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Put on sackcloth and weep, you priests who serve at the altar! Go into the Temple and mourn all night! There is no grain or wine to offer your God.
14 Call for a day when no one eats food! Tell everyone to stop work! Bring the older leaders and everyone who lives in the land to the Temple of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.
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Give orders for a fast; call an assembly! Gather the leaders and all the people of Judah into the Temple of the Lord your God and cry out to him!
15 What a terrible day it will be! The Lord's day of judging is near, when punishment will come like a destroying attack from the Almighty.
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The day of the Lord is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction. What terror that day will bring!
16 Our food is taken away while we watch. Joy and happiness are gone from the Temple of our God.
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We look on helpless as our crops are destroyed. There is no joy in the Temple of our God.
17 Though we planted fig seeds, they lie dry and dead in the dirt. The barns are empty and falling down. The storerooms for grain have been broken down, because the grain has dried up.
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The seeds die in the dry earth. There is no grain to be stored, and so the empty granaries are in ruins.
18 The animals are groaning! The herds of cattle wander around confused, because they have no grass to eat; even the flocks of sheep suffer.
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The cattle are bellowing in distress because there is no pasture for them; the flocks of sheep also suffer.
19 Lord, I am calling to you for help, because fire has burned up the open pastures, and flames have burned all the trees in the field.
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I cry out to you, Lord, because the pastures and trees are dried up, as though a fire had burned them.
20 Wild animals also need your help. The streams of water have dried up, and fire has burned up the open pastures.
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Even the wild animals cry out to you because the streams have become dry.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.