NLT

NLT

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
The Blue Letter Bible

Joel 1 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

toggle collapse
Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:1 - The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.
Mourning over the Locust Plague
(Exo 10:1–20 )
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:2 - Hear this, you leaders of the people.
Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
has anything like this happened before?
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:3 - Tell your children about it in the years to come,
and let your children tell their children.
Pass the story down from generation to generation.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:4 - After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops,
the swarming locusts took what was left!
After them came the hopping locusts,
and then the stripping locusts,[fn] too!
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:5 - Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
and all your sweet wine is gone.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:6 - A vast army of locusts[fn] has invaded my land,
a terrible army too numerous to count.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth,
its fangs like those of a lioness.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:7 - It has destroyed my grapevines
and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
leaving the branches white and bare.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:8 - Weep like a bride dressed in black,
mourning the death of her husband.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:9 - For there is no grain or wine
to offer at the Temple of the LORD.
So the priests are in mourning.
The ministers of the LORD are weeping.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:10 - The fields are ruined,
the land is stripped bare.
The grain is destroyed,
the grapes have shriveled,
and the olive oil is gone.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:11 - Despair, all you farmers!
Wail, all you vine growers!
Weep, because the wheat and barley—
all the crops of the field—are ruined.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:12 - The grapevines have dried up,
and the fig trees have withered.
The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees—
all the fruit trees—have dried up.
And the people’s joy has dried up with them.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:13 - Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests!
Wail, you who serve before the altar!
Come, spend the night in burlap,
you ministers of my God.
For there is no grain or wine
to offer at the Temple of your God.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:14 - Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together for a solemn meeting.
Bring the leaders
and all the people of the land
into the Temple of the LORD your God,
and cry out to him there.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:15 - The day of the LORD is near,
the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.
How terrible that day will be!
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:16 - Our food disappears before our very eyes.
No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:17 - The seeds die in the parched ground,
and the grain crops fail.
The barns stand empty,
and granaries are abandoned.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:18 - How the animals moan with hunger!
The herds of cattle wander about confused,
because they have no pasture.
The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:19 - LORD, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
and flames have burned up all the trees.
Unchecked Copy BoxJoe 1:20 - Even the wild animals cry out to you
because the streams have dried up,
and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.
NLT Footnotes
The precise identification of the four kinds of locusts mentioned here is uncertain.
Hebrew A nation.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NLT
 [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NLT

Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan