New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
1
The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 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?
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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 of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another 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 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.
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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, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off 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 nation has invaded my land, powerful and innumerable; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs 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 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.
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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 dressed in 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 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
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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 devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails.
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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 Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined.
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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 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.
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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 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.
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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 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.
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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 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
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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 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, 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 shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed.
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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 wander about because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dazed.
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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 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.
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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 cry to you because the watercourses are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
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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.
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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.