New King James Version (NKJV)
Joel 1
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord.
10 The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree-- All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
We pray that this ministry will be a blessing to you and your family.
