46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,(A)
    their produce to the locust.(B)

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Your plunder,(A) O nations, is harvested(B) as by young locusts;(C)
    like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

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What the locust(A) 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(B)
    other locusts[a] have eaten.(C)

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Footnotes

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

An Army of Locusts

Blow the trumpet(A) in Zion;(B)
    sound the alarm on my holy hill.(C)

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord(D) is coming.
It is close at hand(E)
    a day of darkness(F) and gloom,(G)
    a day of clouds(H) and blackness.(I)
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army(J) comes,
such as never was in ancient times(K)
    nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire(L) devours,
    behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,(M)
    behind them, a desert waste(N)
    nothing escapes them.
They have the appearance of horses;(O)
    they gallop along like cavalry.
With a noise like that of chariots(P)
    they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire(Q) consuming stubble,
    like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;(R)
    every face turns pale.(S)
They charge like warriors;(T)
    they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,(U)
    not swerving(V) from their course.
They do not jostle each other;
    each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
    without breaking ranks.
They rush upon the city;
    they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;(W)
    like thieves they enter through the windows.(X)

10 Before them the earth shakes,(Y)
    the heavens tremble,(Z)
the sun and moon are darkened,(AA)
    and the stars no longer shine.(AB)
11 The Lord(AC) thunders(AD)
    at the head of his army;(AE)
his forces are beyond number,
    and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;(AF)
    it is dreadful.
    Who can endure it?(AG)

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25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts(A) have eaten(B)
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm[a]
my great army(C) that I sent among you.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.

“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
    destroying them with blight and mildew.(A)
Locusts(B) devoured your fig and olive trees,(C)
    yet you have not returned(D) to me,”
declares the Lord.

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