One of the prophets that are less familiar to the bible lovers is Joel. Only 4 chapters there are in his book and his time of prophecy is an argument between the scholars until today, from the 900 B.C.E to 450 B.C.E. For me it is less important the time of the prophecies, it is more important the ideas and the contents there.

Last time we spoke about the plague of locust in Egypt, but it turns out that in the book of Joel we can find another reference for this plague, this time in the promise land, as written in Joel 1:2-4

“שִׁמְעוּ-זֹאת, הַזְּקֵנִים, וְהַאֲזִינוּ, כֹּל יוֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ; הֶהָיְתָה זֹּאת בִּימֵיכֶם, וְאִם בִּימֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם.  עָלֶיהָ, לִבְנֵיכֶם סַפֵּרוּ; וּבְנֵיכֶם, לִבְנֵיהֶם, וּבְנֵיהֶם, לְדוֹר אַחֵר.  יֶתֶר הַגָּזָם אָכַל הָאַרְבֶּה, וְיֶתֶר הָאַרְבֶּה אָכַל הַיָּלֶק; וְיֶתֶר הַיֶּלֶק, אָכַל הֶחָסִיל.”

“Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten”

The plague here was so severe that the farmers and the drunken ones need to pray for The Lord because there is no crop anymore. The description in this chapter is so beautiful when the author tells us that the even the ground is mourning and the fruit felt miserable!

But, don’t feel so miserable my friend, after every plague there is a growth to the world- let us pray that our world also will feel the growth and the development!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

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