Joel 1:1–2:27

The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

^2aHear this, ^byou elders;

give ear, ^ball inhabitants of the land!

^cHas such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

^3dTell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

⁴What ^ethe cutting locust left,

^fthe swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

^gthe hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

^hthe destroying locust has eaten.

⁵Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and ⁱwail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of ^jthe sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶For ^ka nation has come up against my land,

^kpowerful and beyond number;

^lits teeth are lions’ teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my ^mfig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

⁸Lament like a virgin^{1 n}wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

^9oThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

^pThe priests mourn,

^pthe ministers of the Lord.

¹⁰The fields are destroyed,

^qthe ground mourns,

because ^rthe grain is destroyed,

^rthe wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

^11sBe ashamed,² O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

^tbecause the harvest of the field has perished.

¹²The vine dries up;

^uthe fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and ^vgladness dries up

from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

^13wPut on sackcloth and lament, ^pO priests;

^xwail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, ^wpass the night in sackcloth,

^pO ministers of my God!

^yBecause grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

^14zConsecrate a fast;

^zcall a solemn assembly.

Gather ^athe elders

and ^aall the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

¹⁵Alas for the day!

^bFor the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty³ it comes.

¹⁶Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

^cjoy and gladness

from the house of our God?

^17dThe seed shrivels under the clods;⁴

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because ^ethe grain has dried up.

¹⁸How ^fthe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.⁵

¹⁹To you, ^gO Lord, I call.

^hFor fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

^hand flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the beasts of the field ⁱpant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

^hand fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.

The Day of the Lord

2^jBlow a trumpet in ^kZion;

sound an alarm on ^kmy holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for ^lthe day of the Lord is coming; it is near,

^2ma day of darkness and gloom,

^ma day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains

ⁿa great and powerful people;

^otheir like has never been before,

nor will be again after them

through the years of all generations.

^3pFire devours before them,

and behind them a flame burns.

The land is like ^qthe garden of Eden before them,

but ^rbehind them a desolate wilderness,

and nothing escapes them.

^4sTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,

and like war horses they run.

^5tAs with the rumbling of chariots,

they leap on the tops of the mountains,

like the crackling of ^ua flame of fire

devouring the stubble,

ⁿlike a powerful army

drawn up for battle.

⁶Before them peoples are in anguish;

^vall faces grow pale.

⁷Like warriors they charge;

like soldiers they scale the wall.

They march each on his way;

they do not swerve from their paths.

⁸They do not jostle one another;

^weach marches in his path;

they burst through the weapons

and are not halted.

^9xThey leap upon the city,

they run upon the walls,

^ythey climb up into the houses,

^ythey enter through the windows ^zlike a thief.

^10aThe earth quakes before them;

the heavens tremble.

^bThe sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

^11cThe Lord utters his voice

before ^dhis army,

for his camp is exceedingly great;

^ehe who executes his word is powerful.

^fFor the day of the Lord is ^ggreat and very awesome;

^hwho can endure it?

Return to the Lord

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

ⁱ“return to me with all your heart,

^jwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³and ^krend your hearts and not ^lyour garments.”

Return to the Lord your God,

^mfor he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

ⁿand he relents over disaster.

^14oWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and ^pleave a blessing behind him,

^qa grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord your God?

^15rBlow the trumpet in Zion;

^sconsecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

¹⁶gather the people.

^tConsecrate the congregation;

assemble the elders;

^ugather the children,

even nursing infants.

^vLet the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

^17wBetween the ^xvestibule and the ^yaltar

^zlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep

and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

and make not your heritage a reproach,

a byword among the nations.¹

^aWhy should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

The Lord Had Pity

^18bThen the Lord became jealous for his land

^cand had pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord answered and said to his people,

“Behold, ^dI am sending to you

grain, wine, and oil,

^dand you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a reproach among the nations.

²⁰“I will remove the northerner far from you,

and drive him into a parched and desolate land,

his vanguard² into ^ethe eastern sea,

and his rear guard³ into ^fthe western sea;

^gthe stench and foul smell of him will rise,

for he has done great things.

²¹“Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,

for ^hthe Lord has done great things!

²²Fear not, ⁱyou beasts of the field,

for ^jthe pastures of the wilderness are green;

^kthe tree bears its fruit;

the fig tree and ^kvine give their full yield.

^23l“Be glad, O children of Zion,

and ^lrejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given ^mthe early rain for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

^mthe early and ⁿthe latter rain, as before.

²⁴“The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

²⁵I will restore⁴ to you the years

that ^othe swarming locust has eaten,

^othe hopper, ^othe destroyer, and ^othe cutter,

^pmy great army, which I sent among you.

^26q“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people ^rshall never again be put to shame.

^27sYou shall know that I am ^tin the midst of Israel,

and that ^uI am the Lord your God ^vand there is none else.

And my people ^rshall never again be put to shame.