Joel 1–2

Chapter 1

The Devastation of Locusts

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

^2aHear this, O ^belders,

And listen, all inhabitants of the land.

^cHas anything like this happened in your days

Or in your fathers’ days?

^3aTell your sons about it,

And let your sons tell their sons,

And their sons the next generation.

⁴What 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.

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 ¹invaded 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 waste

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 the Lord.

The ^bpriests mourn,

The ministers of the Lord.

¹⁰The field is ^aruined,

^bThe land mourns;

For the grain is ruined,

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 is destroyed.

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.

^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.

Starvation and Drought

^14aConsecrate 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.

^15aAlas for the day!

For the ^bday of the Lord 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 torn 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 Lord, I cry;

For ^bfire has devoured 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 devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Chapter 2

The Terrible Visitation

^1aBlow 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,

²A 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.

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 consuming the stubble,

Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

⁶Before them the people are in ^aanguish;

All ^bfaces ¹turn pale.

⁷They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like soldiers;

And they each ^amarch ¹in line,

Nor do they deviate from their paths.

⁸They do not crowd each other,

They march everyone in his path;

When they ¹burst through the ²defenses,

They do not break ranks.

⁹They rush on the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb into the ^ahouses,

They ^benter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰Before them the earth ^aquakes,

The heavens tremble,

The ^bsun and the moon grow dark

And the stars lose their brightness.

¹¹The 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;

¹³And ^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.

¹⁴Who 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?

^15aBlow a trumpet in Zion,

^bConsecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,

¹⁶Gather 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.

¹⁷Let 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?’ ”

Deliverance Promised

¹⁸Then the Lord ¹will be ^azealous for His land

And ²will have ^bpity on His people.

¹⁹The 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.”

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

For the Lord 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 ¹in full.

²³So 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.

²⁴The 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.

The Promise of the Spirit

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.

The Day of the Lord

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.