Joel 1:2-20

Joel 1:2-20

[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?  [3] Tell  ye your 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.  [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.  [6] For a nation  is come up  upon my land,  strong,  and without number,  whose teeth  of a lion,  and he hath the cheek teeth  of a great lion.  [7] He hath laid  my vine  waste,  and barked  my fig tree:  he hath made it clean  and cast it away;  the branches  thereof are made white.  [8] Lament  like a virgin  girded  with 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.  [10] The field  is wasted,  the land  mourneth;  for the corn  is wasted:  the new wine  is dried up,  the oil  [11] O ye husbandmen;  howl,  O ye vinedressers,  for the wheat  and for the barley;  because the harvest  of the field  is perished.  [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.  [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.  [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,  [15] Alas  for the day!  of the LORD  is at hand,  and as a destruction  from the Almighty  shall it come.  [16] Is not the meat  cut off  before our eyes,  yea, 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.  [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.  [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.  [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. 

What does Joel 1:2-20 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The rest of chapter1describes the effects of a severe locust plague that had recently destroyed the agriculture of the land.