Get in Touch with Reality—and Weep!

1-3 God’s Message to Joel son of Pethuel:

Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely,
    everyone, whoever and wherever you are!
Have you ever heard of anything like this?
    Has anything like this ever happened before—ever?
Make sure you tell your children,
    and your children tell their children,
And their children their children.
    Don’t let this message die out.

What the chewing locust left,
    the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left,
    the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left,
    the chomping locust ate.

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An Invasion of Locusts

Hear this,(A) you elders;(B)
    listen, all who live in the land.(C)
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
    or in the days of your ancestors?(D)
Tell it to your children,(E)
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.(F)
What the locust(G) swarm has left
    the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
    the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left(H)
    other locusts[a] have eaten.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.