Joel 1

The Douay-Rheims Bible in Bishop Challoner's revision (1749-52), the standard English Bible of the Catholic Church for two centuries, translated from the Latin Vulgate, with the Clementine Vulgate Latin beside each verse. The English is that of Project Gutenberg's electronic text, with Challoner's notes left out; the Latin is the Clementine Vulgate of 1598, with the medieval Glossa Ordinaria commentary of the edition left out. Book names and chapter and verse numbers follow the Vulgate, so the Psalms are numbered as in the Vulgate (Psalm 22 here is Psalm 23 in the King James Version).

1The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.

Verbum Domini, quod factum est ad Joël, filium Phatuel.

2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

Audite hoc, senes, et auribus percipite, omnes habitatores terræ: si factum est istud in diebus vestris, aut in diebus patrum vestrorum?

3Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

Super hoc filiis vestris narrate, et filii vestri filiis suis, et filii eorum generationi alteræ.

4That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.

Residuum erucæ comedit locusta, et residuum locustæ comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo.

5Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight; in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.

Expergiscimini, ebrii, et flete et ululate, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine, quoniam periit ab ore vestro.

6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion’s whelp.

Gens enim ascendit super terram meam, fortis et innumerabilis: dentes ejus ut dentes leonis, et molares ejus ut catuli leonis.

7He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Posuit vineam meam in desertum, et ficum meam decorticavit; nudans spoliavit eam, et projecit: albi facti sunt rami ejus.

8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum pubertatis suæ.

9Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have mourned:

Periit sacrificium et libatio de domo Domini; luxerunt sacerdotes, ministri Domini.

10The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.

Depopulata est regio, luxit humus, quoniam devastatum est triticum, confusum est vinum, elanguit oleum.

11The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Confusi sunt agricolæ, ululaverunt vinitores super frumento et hordeo, quia periit messis agri.

12The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.

Vinea confusa est, et ficus elanguit; malogranatum, et palma, et malum, et omnia ligna agri aruerunt, quia confusum est gaudium a filiis hominum.

13Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

Accingite vos, et plangite, sacerdotes: ululate, ministri altaris; ingredimini, cubate in sacco, ministri Dei mei, quoniam interiit de domo Dei vestri sacrificium et libatio.

14Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:

Sanctificate jejunium, vocate cœtum, congregate senes, omnes habitatores terræ in domum Dei vestri, et clamate ad Dominum:

15Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.

A, a, a, diei ! quia prope est dies Domini, et quasi vastitas a potente veniet.

16Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Numquid non coram oculis vestris alimenta perierunt de domo Dei nostri, lætitia et exsultatio?

17The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.

Computruerunt jumenta in stercore suo, demolita sunt horrea, dissipatæ sunt apothecæ, quoniam confusum est triticum.

18Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.

Quid ingemuit animal, mugierunt greges armenti? quia non est pascua eis; sed et greges pecorum disperierunt.

19To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country.

Ad te, Domine, clamabo, quia ignis comedit speciosa deserti, et flamma succendit omnia ligna regionis.

20Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.

Sed et bestiæ agri, quasi area sitiens imbrem, suspexerunt ad te, quoniam exsiccati sunt fontes aquarum, et ignis devoravit speciosa deserti.