Joel 1:13-20

New International Version

A Call to Lamentation

¹³Put on sackcloth,^(A) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister^(B) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings^(C)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
¹⁴Declare a holy fast;^(D)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land^(E)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out^(F) to the Lord.^(G)

¹⁵Alas for that^(H) day!
For the day of the Lord^(I) is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.^[a]^(J)

¹⁶Has not the food been cut off^(K)
    before our very eyes—
joy and gladness^(L)
    from the house of our God?^(M)
¹⁷The seeds are shriveled
    beneath the clods.^[b]^(N)
The storehouses are in ruins,
    the granaries have been broken down,
    for the grain has dried up.
¹⁸How the cattle moan!
    The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;^(O)
    even the flocks of sheep are suffering.^(P)

¹⁹To you, Lord, I call,^(Q)
    for fire^(R) has devoured the pastures^(S) in the wilderness
    and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
²⁰Even the wild animals pant for you;^(T)
    the streams of water have dried up^(U)
    and fire has devoured the pastures^(V) in the wilderness.