Joel 1

Invasion of locusts like none before  1
New wine snatched from your lips  5
Mourn; despair; joy has withered  8
Priests to put on sackcloth; declare a fast and an assembly  13
Day of the Lord is near  15
Food taken before your eyes  16
A call to the Lord; fire  19

A prophecy relevant for our time. See the introduction. click


Text
Comments
.1 ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Joel the 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?
 3  Tell ye 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.
  1 - Word of the Lord The prophet announces his divine appointment. For others, ho0101, mi0101, 2ti0316, 2pe0120.
  1 - Pethuel Beyond here nothing is known of him.
  2 - Hear ye ... old The calamity about to be announced was more than had been known.
  3 - Palmerworm From gazam, root "to cut." A description of the insects.
  4 - Locust These locusts and other pests were destroying everything. Joel was describing more than the present pest invasion jl0210f.
.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 are the 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 bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
  5 - Drunkards The people are as if drunk, unawrare of their peril.
.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 languisheth.
 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.
.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.
  12 - Joy Wickedness may seem joyful but is finally bitter sorrow. Compare is2212.
.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,
  13 - Lament ye priests These offerings were to provide their food but the situation was more serious. The people had neglected the stewardship that God wanted to bless mala0308.
.15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.    This describes the day of the Lord. It is His day in that He takes up His authority as king re1911, re1114. He stands up as Michael da12.
.16  Is not the meat [food] 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.
  17 - Seed is rotten The Hebrew for this verse is not clear.
  18 - Beasts groan Result of the poor farming prospects.
.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.
   Will He answer? The righteous will be protected re0717. is2620.
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