Joel 1

Joel 1:4

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 caterpillar eaten.

The famine, wherewith I have plagued Israel, is very grievous; which I have caused through the strange increase of noisome worms in the land, all which have as it were agreed to waste all the fruits of the earth: for that, which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath consumed; and if the locust hath left any thing, the cankerworm shall devour it, &c. every one of these shall come after other, in a succession of spoil; and all of them shall destroy the fruits of the land.

Joel 1:5

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.

Even ye drunkards, which are wont to be most insensible of judgments, shall now have reason to howl and mourn; because the hope of your new wine is utterly cut off, even when it was ready to fall into your mouths: your vintage is forestalled by these consuming vermin, in the very height of your present expectation.

Joel 1:6

For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion.

For there are infinite troops of noisome vermin come upon my land, strong and numberless, which shall so devour the fruit thereof, as if they had the teeth of lions.

Joel 1:7

The branches thereof are made white.

The branches thereof appear white, by reason that the bark is eaten off from the boughs.

Joel 1:8

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

O distressed Judea, do thou mourn and lament for this plague of famine, as a virgin, girded with sackcloth, mourneth for the death of her betrothed husband.

Joel 1:9

The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.

The earth yieldeth not so much, as wherewith to make a meat offering or drink offering unto the Lord; the corn, and wine, and oil is so utterly consumed: so as the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have just cause to mourn. So also verses 10, 11, 12, 13.

Joel 1:15

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Alas, wretched men that we are, we do already endure much misery from the afflicting hand of God! but yet more is coming: Oh, woe to us! how shall we be able to abide the extremity of those his plagues, which are at hand?

Joel 1:19

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.

O Lord, to thee will I cry, who only art able to redress this woeful estate of ours: for the scorching drought hath devoured all the herbage of the wilderness, and the fiery beams have burnt up all the trees of the field. So also verse 20.