Joel 2:1–27

The Day of the Lord

2Blow ^athe ¹trumpet in Zion,

And ^bsound an alarm in My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;

For ^cthe day of the Lord is coming,

For it is at hand:

^2dA day of darkness and gloominess,

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.

^eA people come, great and strong,

^fThe like of whom has never been;

Nor will there ever be any such after them,

Even for many successive generations.

³A fire devours before them,

And behind them a flame burns;

The land is like ^gthe Garden of Eden before them,

^hAnd behind them a desolate wilderness;

Surely nothing shall escape them.

⁴ⁱTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like ²swift steeds, so they run.

^5jWith a noise like chariots

Over mountaintops they leap,

Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,

Like a strong people set in battle array.

⁶Before them the people writhe in pain;

^kAll faces ³are drained of color.

⁷They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like men of war;

Every one marches in formation,

And they do not break ^lranks.

⁸They do not push one another;

Every one marches in his own ⁴column.

Though they lunge between the weapons,

They are not ⁵cut down.

⁹They run to and fro in the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb into the houses,

They ^menter at the windows ⁿlike a thief.

^10oThe earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble;

^pThe sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars diminish their brightness.

^11qThe Lord gives voice before His army,

For His camp is very great;

^rFor strong is the One who executes His word.

For the ^sday of the Lord is great and very terrible;

^tWho can endure it?

A Call to Repentance

¹²“Now, therefore,” says the Lord,

^u“Turn to Me with all your heart,

With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”

¹³So ^vrend your heart, and not ^wyour garments;

Return to the Lord your God,

For He is ^xgracious and merciful,

Slow to anger, and of great kindness;

And He relents from doing harm.

^14yWho knows if He will turn and relent,

And leave ^za blessing behind Him—

^aA grain offering and a drink offering

For the Lord your God?

^15bBlow the ⁶trumpet in Zion,

^cConsecrate a fast,

Call a sacred assembly;

¹⁶Gather the people,

^dSanctify the congregation,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the children and nursing babes;

^eLet the bridegroom go out from his chamber,

And the bride from her dressing room.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,

Weep ^fbetween the porch and the altar;

Let them say, ^g“Spare Your people, O Lord,

And do not give Your heritage to reproach,

That the nations should ⁷rule over them.

^hWhy should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

The Land Refreshed

¹⁸Then the Lord will ⁱbe zealous for His land,

And pity His people.

¹⁹The Lord will answer and say to His people,

“Behold, I will send you ^jgrain and new wine and oil,

And you will be satisfied by them;

I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.

²⁰“But ^kI will remove far from you ^lthe northern army,

And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,

With his face toward the eastern sea

And his back ^mtoward the western sea;

His stench will come up,

And his foul odor will rise,

Because he has done ⁸monstrous things.”

²¹Fear not, O land;

Be glad and rejoice,

For the Lord has done ⁹marvelous things!

²²Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;

For ⁿthe open pastures are springing up,

And the tree bears its fruit;

The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

²³Be glad then, you children of Zion,

And ^orejoice in the Lord your God;

For He has given you the ¹former rain faithfully,

And He ^pwill cause the rain to come down for you—

The former rain,

And the latter rain in the first month.

²⁴The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,

And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵“So I will restore to you the years ^qthat the swarming ²locust has eaten,

The crawling locust,

The consuming locust,

And the chewing locust,

My great army which I sent among you.

²⁶You shall ^reat in plenty and be satisfied,

And praise the name of the Lord your God,

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

And My people shall never be put to ^sshame.

²⁷Then you shall know that I am ^tin the midst of Israel:

^uI am the Lord your God

And there is no other.

My people shall never be put to shame.