Joel 2–3

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.

Yahweh Will Pour Out His Spirit

²⁸“^1aAnd it will be afterwards

That I will ^bpour out My Spirit on all ^2cmankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;

Your old men will dream dreams;

Your young men will see visions.

²⁹“Even on the ^amale slaves and female slaves

I will in those days pour out My Spirit.

Deliverance in the Day of Yahweh

³⁰“And I will ^aput 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 Yahweh comes.

³²“And it will be that ^aeveryone who calls on the name of Yahweh

Will ¹be delivered;

For ^bon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

There will be those who ^cescape,

As Yahweh has said,

Even among the ^dsurvivors whom Yahweh calls.

CHAPTER 3

Yahweh Will Judge the Nations

¹“¹For behold, ^ain those days and at that time,

When I ^brestore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

²I 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,

^1bTraded a boy for a harlot,

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 desirable ¹treasures to your temples,

⁶and sold the ^asons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the ¹Greeks in order to remove them far from their borders,

⁷behold, I am going to ^arouse 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 Yahweh has spoken.

^9aCall out this message among the nations:

^bSet yourselves apart for a war; ^crouse the mighty men!

Let all the men of war approach, let them come up!

^10aBeat your plowshares into swords

And your pruning hooks into spears;

^bLet the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”

^111aHasten and come, all you surrounding nations,

And gather yourselves.

There, bring down, O Yahweh, Your ^bmighty ones.

¹²Let the nations be roused up

And come up to the ^avalley of ¹Jehoshaphat,

For there I will sit to ^bjudge

All the surrounding nations.

^13aSend in the sickle, for the ^bharvest is ripe.

Come, ^1ctread, for the ^dwine press is full;

The vats overflow, for their ^eevil is great.

^14aMultitudes, multitudes in the ^bvalley of ¹decision!

For the ^cday of Yahweh is near in the valley of ²decision.

¹⁵The ^asun and moon grow dark,

And the stars lose their brightness.

¹⁶And Yahweh ^aroars from Zion

And ^bgives forth His voice from Jerusalem,

And the ^cheavens and the earth quake.

But Yahweh is a ^drefuge for His people

And a ^estrong defense to the sons of Israel.

¹⁷Then you will ^aknow that I am Yahweh your God,

Dwelling in Zion, My ^bholy mountain.

So Jerusalem will be ^choly,

And ^dstrangers will pass through it no more.

Yahweh Dwells in Zion

¹⁸And it will be in that day,

That the ^amountains will drip with ¹sweet wine,

And the hills will ^bflow with milk,

And all the ^cbrooks of Judah will flow with water;

And a ^dspring will go out from the house of Yahweh

To water the valley of ²Shittim.

¹⁹Egypt will become a desolation,

And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,

Because of the ^aviolence ¹done to the sons of Judah,

In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

²⁰But Judah will be ^ainhabited forever

And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

²¹And I will ^aavenge their blood which I have not avenged,

Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.