Joel 1

Joel describes an unprecedented disaster: wave upon wave of locusts have devoured the crops, vines, and trees, leaving the land stripped and the people destitute, so that even grain and drink offerings have ceased at the temple. He calls the drunkards, the farmers, and especially the priests to wail and mourn, and to declare a solemn fast, crying out to the LORD, for “the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.” The locust plague is a summons to take God’s judgment seriously.