1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders;listen, all who live in the land.Has anything like this ever happened in your daysor in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell it to your children,and let your children tell it to their children,and their children to the next generation.
4 What the locust swarm has leftthe great locusts have eaten;what the great locusts have leftthe young locusts have eaten;what the young locusts have leftother locusts have eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!Wail, all you drinkers of wine;wail because of the new wine,for it has been snatched from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,a mighty army without number;it has the teeth of a lion,the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vinesand ruined my fig-trees.It has stripped off their barkand thrown it away,leaving their branches white.