Joel 1–3

1The word of the Lord that came ^ato Joel son of Pethuel:

A Plague of Locusts

²Hear this, ^byou elders;

listen, all you inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your days ^c

or in the days of your ancestors?

³Tell your children about it, ^d

and let your children tell their children,

and their children the next generation.

⁴What the devouring locust ^ehas left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust has left,

the young locust ^fhas eaten;

and what the young locust has left,

the destroying locust ^ghas eaten.

⁵Wake up, you drunkards, ^hand weep;

wail, all you wine drinkers,

because of the sweet wine,

for it has been taken from your mouth.

⁶For a nation has invaded My land, ⁱ

powerful and without number;

its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and it has the fangs of a lioness. ^j

⁷It has devastated My grapevine

and splintered My fig tree.

It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;

its branches have turned white.

⁸Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, ^k

mourning for the husband of her youth.

⁹Grain and drink offerings have been cut off ^l

from the house of the Lord;

the priests, who are ministers of the Lord, mourn. ^m

¹⁰The fields are destroyed; ⁿ

the land grieves;

indeed, the grain is destroyed;

the new wine is dried up; ^o

and the olive oil fails. ^p

¹¹Be ashamed, you farmers, ^q

wail, you vinedressers, ^r

over the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished. ^s

¹²The grapevine is dried up, ^t

and the fig tree is withered;

the pomegranate, ^uthe date palm, ^vand the apple ^w—

all the trees of the orchard—have withered.

Indeed, human joy has dried up. ^x

¹³Dress in sackcloth and lament, ^yyou priests; ^z

wail, ^ayou ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth, ^b

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴Announce a sacred fast; ^c

proclaim an assembly!

Gather the elders ^d

and all the residents of the land

at the house of the Lord your God, ^e

and cry out to the Lord. ^f

The Day of the Lord

¹⁵Woe because of that day! ^g

For the Day of the Lord is near

and will come as devastation from the Almighty. ^h

¹⁶Hasn’t the food been cut off

before our eyes, ⁱ

joy and gladness ^j

from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. ^kl

The storehouses are in ruin,

and the granaries are broken down,

because the grain has withered away.

¹⁸How the animals groan! ^m

The herds of cattle wander in confusion

since they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.

¹⁹I call to You, Lord, ⁿ

for fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness, ^o

and flames have devoured

all the trees of the countryside.

²⁰Even the wild animals cry out to ^pYou, ^q

for the river beds are dried up, ^r

and fire has consumed

the pastures of the wilderness.

2Blow the horn in Zion; ^s

sound the alarm on My holy mountain!

Let all the residents of the land tremble,

for the Day of the Lord is coming; ^t

in fact, it is near—

²a day of darkness and gloom, ^u

a day of clouds and dense overcast, ^v

like the dawn spreading over the mountains;

a great and strong people ^wappears,

such as never existed in ages past ^x

and never will again

in all the generations to come. ^y

³A fire destroys ^zin front of them, ^a

and behind them a flame devours.

The land in front of them

is like the Garden of Eden, ^b

but behind them,

it is like a desert wasteland; ^c

there is no escape from them.

⁴Their appearance is like that of horses, ^d

and they gallop like war horses.

⁵They bound on the tops of the mountains.

Their sound is like the sound of chariots, ^e

like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble, ^f

like a mighty army deployed for war.

⁶Nations writhe in horror before them; ^g

all faces turn pale.

⁷They attack as warriors attack;

they scale walls as men of war do.

Each goes on his own path, ^h

and they do not change their course.

⁸They do not push each other;

each man proceeds on his own path.

They dodge the arrows, never stopping.

⁹They storm the city;

they run on the wall;

they climb into the houses; ⁱ

they enter through the windows like thieves. ^j

¹⁰The earth quakes before them; ^k

the sky shakes.

The sun and moon grow dark, ^l

and the stars cease their shining. ^m

¹¹The Lord raises His voice ⁿ

in the presence of His army. ^o

His camp is very large;

Those who carry out His command are powerful. ^p

Indeed, the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful ^q—

who can endure it? ^r

God’s Call for Repentance

¹²Even now—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

turn to Me with all your heart, ^s

with fasting, weeping, and mourning. ^t

¹³Tear your hearts, ^u

not just your clothes, ^v

and return to the Lord your God.

For He is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger, rich in faithful love,

and He relents from sending disaster. ^w

¹⁴Who knows? He may turn and relent ^x

and leave a blessing behind Him, ^y

so you can offer grain and wine

to the Lord your God. ^z

¹⁵Blow the horn in Zion! ^a

Announce a sacred fast; ^b

proclaim an assembly.

¹⁶Gather the people;

sanctify the congregation; ^c

assemble the aged; ^de

gather the children,

even those nursing at the breast.

Let the groom leave his bedroom, ^f

and the bride her honeymoon chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, ^gthe Lord’s ministers,

weep between the portico and the altar. ^h

Let them say:

“Have pity on Your people, Lord, ⁱ

and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, ^j

an object of scorn among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ” ^k

God’s Response to His People

¹⁸Then the Lord became jealous for His land ^land spared His people. ^m19The Lord answered His people:

Look, I am about to send you

grain, new wine, and olive oil. ⁿ

You will be satiated with them,

and I will no longer make you

a disgrace among the nations. ^o

²⁰I will drive the northerner far from you ^p

and banish him to a dry and desolate land,

his front ranks into the Dead Sea, ^q

and his rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea. ^r

His stench will rise;

yes, his rotten smell will rise, ^s

for he has done catastrophic things.

²¹Don’t be afraid, land; ^t

rejoice and be glad,

for the Lord has done great things. ^u

²²Don’t be afraid, wild animals,

for the wilderness pastures have turned green, ^v

the trees bear their fruit,

and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches.

²³Children of Zion, ^wrejoice and be glad

in the Lord your God, ^x

because He gives you the autumn rain

for your vindication. ^yz

He sends showers for you,

both autumn and spring rain ^aas before.

²⁴The threshing floors will be full of grain, ^b

and the vats will overflow

with new wine and olive oil.

²⁵I will repay you for the years

that the swarming locust ate, ^c

the young locust, the destroying locust,

and the devouring locust—

My great army that I sent against you.

²⁶You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied. ^d

You will praise the name of Yahweh your God, ^e

who has dealt wondrously with you. ^f

My people will never again be put to shame. ^g

²⁷You will know that I am present in Israel ^h

and that I am Yahweh your God,

and there is no other. ⁱ

My people will never again be put to shame. ^j

God’s Promise of His Spirit

^28k After this ^l

I will pour out My Spirit ^mon all humanity; ⁿ

then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

your old men will have dreams,

and your young men will see visions.

²⁹I will even pour out My Spirit

on the male and female slaves in those days. ^o

³⁰I will display wonders

in the heavens and on the earth: ^p

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

³¹The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood ^q

before the great and awe-inspiring Day of the Lord comes. ^r

³²Then everyone who calls

on the name of Yahweh will be saved, ^s

for there will be an escape

for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

as the Lord promised, ^t

among the survivors the Lord calls.

Judgment of the Nations

3^uYes, in those days and at that time,

when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ^v

²I will gather all the nations ^w

and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. ^xy

I will enter into judgment with them there ^z

because of My people, My inheritance Israel.

The nations have scattered the Israelites

in foreign countries ^a

and divided up My land. ^b

³They cast lots for My people; ^c

they bartered a boy for a prostitute

and sold a girl for wine to drink. ^d

⁴And also: Tyre, ^eSidon, and all the territories of Philistia ^f—what are you to Me? Are you paying Me back or trying to get even with Me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads. ^g5For you took My silver and gold and carried My finest treasures ^hto your temples. ⁶You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks ⁱto remove them far from their own territory. ⁷Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; ^jI will bring retribution on your heads. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, ^kand they will sell them to the Sabeans, ^lmto a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.

⁹Proclaim this among the nations: ⁿ

Prepare for holy war; ^o

rouse the warriors; ^p

let all the men of war advance and attack!

¹⁰Beat your plows into swords

and your pruning knives into spears. ^q

Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”

¹¹Come quickly, ^rall you surrounding nations;

gather yourselves. ^s

Bring down Your warriors there, Lord. ^t

¹²Let the nations be roused

and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit down

to judge all the surrounding nations. ^u

¹³Swing the sickle

because the harvest is ripe. ^v

Come and trample the grapes

because the winepress is full; ^w

the wine vats overflow

because the wickedness of the nations is great. ^x

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes ^y

in the valley of decision!

For the Day of the Lord is near ^z

in the valley of decision.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark,

and the stars will cease their shining. ^a

¹⁶The Lord will roar from Zion ^b

and raise His voice from Jerusalem; ^c

heaven and earth will shake. ^d

But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, ^e

a stronghold for the Israelites. ^f

Israel Blessed

¹⁷Then you will know

that I am Yahweh your God, ^g

who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. ^h

Jerusalem will be holy, ⁱ

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