Single lesson
Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts
Joel 1:1–7; Joel 1:8–12; Joel 1:13–20
Joel 1:1-7 opens with Yahweh’s word to Joel and calls the people of the land to listen. The passage describes extraordinary devastation and insists that it should be remembered and retold across generations. This lesson also brings together A Call to Mourning, A Call to Repentance.
Before you teach
The message is introduced as Yahweh’s word to Joel son of Pethuel. Joel speaks to elders and all the inhabitants of the land, asking whether anything like this has happened before. He then describes loss through repeated locust imagery, the cutting off of sweet wine, a strong nation, and ruined vines and fig trees.
Explain the central teaching of Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts, using two details from the reading. Joel 1:1-7 teaches that Yahweh’s message about extraordinary devastation is to be heard carefully, remembered, and passed on. This passage teaches that the loss described is so deep that it touches worship, work, the land and human joy, so mourning is a fitting response. This passage presents mourning, fasting, gathering, and crying to Yahweh as the fitting response to a devastating crisis.
Welcome: Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts
5 minIntroduce “The Invasion of Locusts”, “A Call to Mourning”, “A Call to Repentance” and locate Joel 1:1–7; Joel 1:8–12; Joel 1:13–20. Joel 1:1-7 teaches that Yahweh’s message about extraordinary devastation is to be heard carefully, remembered, and passed on. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Joel 1:1, Joel 1:4, Joel 1:7
Read and explain the passage
12 minThe Invasion of Locusts (Joel 1:1–7): The passage begins by identifying the message as Yahweh’s word. Joel, son of Pethuel, is named as the one who receives it. This opening frames everything that follows as a message from Yahweh, so the reader is meant to pay close attention to the words that come next.
A Call to Mourning (Joel 1:8–12): Joel begins with a comparison: mourn like a young woman in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth. The verse does not tell a story about her life. It uses a powerful image of bitter grief to show the kind of sorrow Joel is calling for.
A Call to Repentance (Joel 1:13–20): The passage opens with commands to the priests and ministers of the altar: put on sackcloth, mourn, wail, and lie all night in sackcloth. The reason is also given. The meal offering and drink offering are withheld from God’s house, so the crisis has reached the place of worship.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “The Invasion of Locusts”, “A Call to Mourning”, “A Call to Repentance”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Joel 1:1, Joel 1:8, Joel 1:13
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “Who is called to hear this message at the start of the passage?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage presents mourning, fasting, gathering, and crying to Yahweh as the fitting response to a devastating crisis. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Joel 1:2, Joel 1:9, Joel 1:11, Joel 1:13, Joel 1:16, Joel 1:17, Joel 1:18, Joel 1:20
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “The Invasion of Locusts”, “A Call to Mourning”, “A Call to Repentance” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Joel 1:1, Joel 1:11, Joel 1:20
Closing: return to A Call to Repentance
3 minRevisit Joel 1:13–20. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about A Call to Repentance and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Joel 1:13, Joel 1:17, Joel 1:20
Questions to explore
Who is called to hear this message at the start of the passage?
Look at the groups named in Joel 1:2 and notice how widely the call to listen is given.
Joel 1:2
How does Joel show that the loss affects worship as well as farming?
Compare what has stopped in Yahweh’s house with what has perished in field and vineyard.
Joel 1:9, Joel 1:11
Which details in these verses show that the crisis touches worship, food, and animals?
Collect examples from the house of God, the grain stores, and the condition of the herds and flocks.
Joel 1:13, Joel 1:16, Joel 1:17, Joel 1:18, Joel 1:20
Make, think or respond
Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Joel 1:1–7; Joel 1:8–12; Joel 1:13–20. Use “The Invasion of Locusts”, “A Call to Mourning”, “A Call to Repentance” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Joel 1: The Invasion of Locusts connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “The Invasion of Locusts”, “A Call to Mourning”, “A Call to Repentance” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Joel 1:1–7; Joel 1:8–12; Joel 1:13–20. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Joel 1:1–7; Joel 1:8–12; Joel 1:13–20. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Joel 1
1 Yahweh’s word that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders, and listen, all you inhabitants of the land! Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.
4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.
7 He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Yahweh’s house. The priests, Yahweh’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
11 Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered— the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.
14 Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19 Yahweh, I cry to you, for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.