Joel 1:1–3:21
1 The aword of the Lord that came to bJoel, the son of Pethuel:
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
cHas anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers’ days?
3 aTell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
4 What the agnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the bswarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the cstripping locust has eaten.
5 Awake, adrunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is bcut off from your mouth.
6 For a anation has 1invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
bIts teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has amade my vine a waste
And my fig tree 1splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
8 aWail like a virgin bgirded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The agrain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the Lord.
The bpriests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord.
10 The field is aruined,
bThe land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil 1fails.
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the bharvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The avine dries up
And the fig tree 1fails;
The bpomegranate, the cpalm also, and the 2dapple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, erejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.
13 aGird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
bWail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, cspend the night in sackcloth
O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
14 aConsecrate a fast,
Proclaim a bsolemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And ccry out to the Lord.
15 aAlas for the day!
For the bday of the Lord is near,
And it will come as cdestruction from the 1Almighty.
16 Has not afood been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and bjoy from the house of our God?
17 The 1aseeds shrivel under their 2clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
18 How athe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep 1suffer.
19 aTo You, O Lord, I cry;
For bfire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field 1apant for You;
For the bwater brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
1 aBlow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the bday of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
2 A day of adarkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a bgreat and mighty people;
There has cnever been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
3 A afire consumes before them
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is blike the garden of Eden before them
But a cdesolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
4 Their aappearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
5 1With a anoise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the 2crackling of a bflame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
6 Before them the people are in aanguish;
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each amarch 1in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
8 They do not crowd each other,
They march everyone in his path;
When they 1burst through the 2defenses,
They do not break ranks.
They run on the wall;
They climb into the ahouses,
They benter through the windows like a thief.
10 Before them the earth aquakes,
The heavens tremble,
The bsun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
11 The Lord autters His voice before bHis army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For cstrong is he who carries out His word.
The dday of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And ewho can endure it?
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“aReturn to Me with all your heart,
And with bfasting, weeping and mourning;
13 And arend your heart and not byour garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is cgracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And drelenting of evil.
14 Who knows awhether He will not turn and relent
And leave a bblessing behind Him,
Even ca grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
15 aBlow a trumpet in Zion,
bConsecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
16 Gather the people, asanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bbridegroom come out of his room
And the bride out of her bridal chamber.
17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers,
Weep abetween the porch and the altar,
And let them say, “bSpare Your people, O Lord,
And do not make Your inheritance a creproach,
A byword among the nations.
Why should they among the peoples say,
‘dWhere is their God?’ ”
18 Then the Lord 1will be azealous for His land
And 2will have bpity on His people.
19 The Lord 1will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I am going to asend you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with 2them;
And I will bnever again make you a reproach among the nations.
20 “But I will remove the anorthern army far from you,
And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the beastern sea,
And its rear guard into the cwestern sea.
And its dstench will arise and its foul smell will come up,
For it has done great things.”
21 aDo not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the Lord has done bgreat things.
22 Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the apastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded 1in full.
23 So rejoice, O asons of Zion,
And bbe glad in the Lord your God;
For He has cgiven you 1the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The 2early and 3dlatter rain 4as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will aoverflow with the new wine and oil.
25 “Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming alocust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 “You will have plenty to aeat and be satisfied
And bpraise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has cdealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will dnever be put to shame.
27 “Thus you will aknow that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God,
And there is bno other;
And My people will never be cput to shame.
28 “1aIt will come about after this
That I will bpour out My Spirit on all 2cmankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29 “Even on the amale and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “I will adisplay wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
31 “The asun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the bgreat and awesome day of the Lord comes.
32 “And it will come about that awhoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
For bon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who cescape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the dsurvivors whom the Lord calls.
1 “1For behold, ain those days and at that time,
When I brestore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will agather all the nations
And bring them down to the bvalley of 1Jehoshaphat.
Then I will center into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have dscattered among the nations;
And they have edivided up My land.
3 “They have also acast lots for My people,
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 “Moreover, what are you to Me, O aTyre, Sidon and all the regions of bPhilistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will creturn your recompense on your head.
5 “Since you have ataken My silver and My gold, brought My precious 1treasures to your temples,
6 and sold the asons of Judah and Jerusalem to the 1Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,
7 behold, I am going to aarouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.
8 “Also I will asell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the bSabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken.
9 aProclaim this among the nations:
bPrepare a war; crouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
10 aBeat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
bLet the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
11 1aHasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
Bring down, O Lord, Your bmighty ones.
And come up to the avalley of 1Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to bjudge
All the surrounding nations.
13 aPut in the sickle, for the bharvest is ripe.
Come, ctread, for the dwine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their ewickedness is great.
14 aMultitudes, multitudes in the bvalley of 1decision!
For the cday of the Lord is near in the valley of 1decision.
15 The asun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
16 The Lord aroars from Zion
And butters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the cheavens and the earth tremble.
But the Lord is a drefuge for His people
And a e…