The Book of Joel.

read-along. The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people, and invites them to fasting and prayer.
[1] The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel. [2] Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? [3] Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. [4] That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed. [5] Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.
[4] "That which the palmerworm hath left": Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies.
[6] For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's whelp. [7] He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, 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] Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned: [10] The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.
[11] The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. [12] The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men. [13] Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God. [14] Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord: [15] Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.
[16] Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? [17] The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded. [18] Why did the beast groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished. [19] To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country. [20] Yea and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.

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