Joel 1:1–2:27

The Locusts Bring Desolation

¹The ^aword of ¹Yahweh that came to ^bJoel, the son of Pethuel:

^2aHear this, O ^belders,

And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.

^cHas anything like this happened in your days

Or in your fathers’ days?

^3aRecount about it to your sons,

And let your sons recount about it to their sons,

And their sons to the next generation.

⁴What the ^agnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;

And what the ^bswarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;

And what the creeping locust has left, the ^cstripping locust has consumed.

⁵Awake, ^adrunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you wine drinkers,

On account of the sweet wine

That is ^bcut off from your mouth.

⁶For a ^anation has come up against my land,

Mighty and without number;

^bIts teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And it has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷It has ^amade my vine a desolation

And my fig tree ¹splinters.

It has stripped them bare and cast them away;

Their branches have become white.

^8aWail like a virgin ^bgirded with sackcloth

For the bridegroom of her youth.

⁹The ^agrain offering and the drink offering are cut off

From the house of Yahweh.

The ^bpriests mourn,

The ministers of Yahweh.

¹⁰The field is ^adestroyed;

^bThe land mourns,

For the grain is destroyed,

The new wine dries up,

Fresh oil ¹fails.

^111aBe ashamed, O farmers,

Wail, O vinedressers,

For the wheat and the barley,

Because the ^bharvest of the field perishes.

¹²The ^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.

The Day of Yahweh Is Near

^13aGird 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.

^14aSet apart a fast as holy,

Call for a ^bsolemn assembly;

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

To the house of Yahweh your God,

And ^ccry out to Yahweh.

^15aAlas for the day!

For the ^bday of Yahweh is near,

And it will come as ^cdestruction from the ¹Almighty.

¹⁶Has not ^afood been cut off before our eyes,

Gladness and ^bjoy from the house of our God?

¹⁷The ^1aseeds shrivel under their ²clods;

The storehouses are desolate;

The barns are pulled down,

For the grain is dried up.

¹⁸How ^athe beasts groan!

The herds of cattle wander aimlessly

Because there is no pasture for them;

Even the flocks of sheep ¹suffer.

^19aTo You, O Yahweh, I cry;

For ^bfire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,

And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the beasts of the field ^1apant for You;

For the ^bwater brooks are dried up,

And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.

CHAPTER 2

^1aBlow a trumpet in Zion,

And make a loud shout on My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

For the ^bday of Yahweh is coming;

Surely it is near,

²A day of ^adarkness and thick darkness,

A day of clouds and dense gloom.

As the dawn is spread over the mountains,

So there is a ^bnumerous and mighty people;

There has ^cnever been anything like it,

Nor will there be again after it

For the years from generation to generation.

³A ^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.

⁴Their ^aappearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like war horses, so they run.

⁵¹With a ^anoise as of chariots

They leap on the tops of the mountains,

Like the ²crackling of a ^bflame of fire consumes the stubble,

Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

⁶Before them the peoples are ^awrithing;

All ^bfaces ¹turn pale.

⁷They run like mighty men;

They climb up the wall like men of war;

And they each ^amarch ¹in line,

And they do not deviate from their paths.

⁸They do not crowd each other;

They march everyone in his path;

When they fall against the defending weapons,

They do not break ranks.

⁹They rush on the city;

They run on the wall;

They climb up into the ^ahouses;

They ^benter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰Before them the earth ^atrembles;

The heavens quake;

The ^bsun and the moon grow dark,

And the stars ¹lose their brightness.

¹¹But Yahweh ^agives forth His voice before ^bHis military force;

Surely His camp is very numerous,

For ^cmighty is he who does His word.

The ^dday of Yahweh is indeed great and very awesome,

And ^ewho can endure it?

Return to Yahweh

¹²“Yet even now,” declares Yahweh,

“^aReturn to Me with all your heart

And with ^bfasting, weeping, and ¹wailing;

¹³And ^atear your heart and not ^byour garments.”

Now return to Yahweh your God,

For He is ^cgracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,

And ^drelenting concerning evil.

¹⁴Who knows ^awhether He will not turn and relent

And leave a ^bblessing behind Him,

Even ^ca grain offering and a drink offering

For Yahweh your God?

^15aBlow a trumpet in Zion,

^bSet apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly,

¹⁶Gather the people, ^aset apart the congregation as holy,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the infants and the nursing babies.

Let the ^bbridegroom come out of his room

And the bride out of her bridal chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh,

Weep ^abetween the porch and the altar,

And let them say, “^bPity Your people, O Yahweh,

And do not make Your inheritance a ^creproach,

A byword among the nations.

Why should they among the peoples say,

‘^dWhere is their God?’”

Yahweh Will Spare His People

¹⁸Then Yahweh ¹will be ^azealous for His land

And ²will ^bspare His people.

¹⁹Then Yahweh 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 military force 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 rise up, and its foul smell will rise up,

For it has done great things.”

^21aDo not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,

For Yahweh has done ^bgreat things.

²²Do 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 ¹their full force.

²³So rejoice, O ^asons of Zion,

And ^bbe glad in Yahweh your God,

For He has ^cgiven you ¹the early rain in righteousness.

And He has poured down for you the rain,

The ²early and ^3dlate rains ⁴as before.

²⁴The threshing floors will be full of grain,

And the vats will ^aoverflow with the new wine and oil.

²⁵“Then I will pay back to you in full for the years

That the swarming ^alocust has consumed,

The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust,

My great military force which I sent among you.

²⁶“And you will have plenty to ^aconsume and be satisfied

And ^bpraise the name of Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God,

And there is ^bno other;

And My people will never be ^cput to shame.