Joel 1–3

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

Lament over the Ruin of the Country

²Hear this, O elders;

give ear, all inhabitants of the land!

Has such a thing happened in your days

or in the days of your ancestors?^*

³Tell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children another generation.^*

⁴What the cutting locust left,

the swarming locust has eaten;

what the swarming locust left,

the hopping locust has eaten;

and what the hopping locust left,

the destroying locust has eaten.^*

⁵Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,

and wail, all you wine drinkers,

over the sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶For a nation has invaded my land,

powerful and innumerable;

its teeth are lions’ teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.^*

⁷It has laid waste my vines

and splintered my fig trees;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches have turned white.^*

⁸Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth

for the husband of her youth.^*

⁹The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

The priests mourn,

the ministers of the Lord.^*

¹⁰The fields are devastated,

the ground mourns,

for the grain is destroyed,

the wine dries up,

the oil fails.^*

¹¹Be dismayed, you farmers;

wail, you vinedressers,

over the wheat and the barley,

for the crops of the field are ruined.^*

¹²The vine withers;

the fig tree droops.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple—

all the trees of the field are dried up;

surely, joy withers away

among the people.^*

A Call to Repentance and Prayer

¹³Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;

wail, you ministers of the altar.

Come, pass the night in sackcloth,

you ministers of my God!

Grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.^*

¹⁴Consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly.

Gather the elders

and all the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.^*

¹⁵Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty^a it comes.^*

¹⁶Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

joy and gladness

from the house of our God?^*

¹⁷The seed shrivels under the clods;^b

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are ruined

because the grain has withered.

¹⁸How the animals groan!

The herds of cattle wander about

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep are perishing.^*

¹⁹To you, O Lord, I cry,

for fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

and flames have burned

all the trees of the field.^*

²⁰Even the wild animals cry to you

because the watercourses are dried up,

and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.^*

²Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sound the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—^*

²a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness spread upon the mountains,

a great and powerful army comes;

their like has never been from of old,

nor will be again after them

in ages to come.^*

³Fire devours in front of them,

and behind them a flame burns.

Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,

but after them a desolate wilderness,

and nothing escapes them.^*

⁴They have the appearance of horses,

and like war horses they charge.^*

⁵As with the rumbling of chariots,

they leap on the tops of the mountains,

like the crackling of a flame of fire

devouring the stubble,

like a powerful army

drawn up for battle.^*

⁶Before them peoples are in anguish;

all faces grow pale.^c*

⁷Like warriors they charge;

like soldiers they scale the wall.

Each keeps to its own course;

they do not swerve from their paths.

⁸They do not jostle one another;

each keeps to its own track;

they burst through the weapons

and are not halted.

⁹They leap upon the city;

they run upon the walls;

they climb up into the houses;

they enter through the windows like a thief.^*

¹⁰The earth quakes before them;

the heavens tremble.

The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.^*

¹¹The Lord utters his voice

at the head of his army;

how vast is his host!

Numberless are those who obey his command.

Truly the day of the Lord is great,

terrible indeed—who can endure it?^*

¹²Yet even now, says the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;^*

¹³rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,

and relenting from punishment.^*

¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent

and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord your God?^*

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion;

consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;^*

¹⁶gather the people.

Consecrate the congregation;

assemble the aged;

gather the children,

even infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her canopy.^*

¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar,

let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.

Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

and do not make your heritage a mockery,

a byword among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”^*

God’s Response and Promise

¹⁸Then the Lord became jealous for his land

and had pity on his people.^*

¹⁹In response to his people the Lord said:

“I am sending you

grain, wine, and oil,

and you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a mockery among the nations.^*

²⁰I will remove the northern army far from you

and drive it into a parched and desolate land,

its front into the eastern sea

and its rear into the western sea;

its stench and foul smell will rise up.”

Surely he has done great things!^*

²¹Do not fear, O soil;

be glad and rejoice,

for the Lord has done great things!

²²Do not fear, you animals of the field,

for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit;

the fig tree and vine give their full yield.^*

²³O children of Zion, be glad,

and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given the early rain^d for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the later rain, as before.^*

²⁴The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

²⁵I will repay you for the years

that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

my great army that I sent against you.^*

²⁶You shall eat 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 again be put to shame.^*

²⁷You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel

and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.^*

God’s Spirit Poured Out

^28eThen afterward

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.^*

²⁹Even on the male and female slaves,

in those days I will pour out my spirit.^*

³⁰I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.^{* 31}The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^{* 32}Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.^*

^3fFor then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,^{* 2}I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land^{* 3}and cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes and sold girls for wine and drunk it down.^*

⁴What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily.^{* 5}For you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.^{g 6}You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. ⁷But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads.^{* 8}I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.^*

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

Consecrate yourselves for war;

stir up the warriors.

Let all the soldiers draw near;

let them come up.

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords

and your pruning hooks into spears;

let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”^*

¹¹Come quickly,^h

all you nations all around;

gather yourselves there.

Bring down your warriors, O Lord.^*

¹²Let the nations rouse themselves

and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit to judge

all the neighboring nations.^*

¹³Put in the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.

Go in, tread,

for the winepress is full.

The vats overflow,

for their wickedness is great.^*

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes,

in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.^*

¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹⁶The Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

and the heavens and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people,

a stronghold for the people of Israel.^*

The Glorious Future of Judah

¹⁷So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,

dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

and strangers shall never again pass through it.^*

¹⁸In that day

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

the hills shall flow with milk,

and all the streambeds of Judah

shall flow with water;

a fountain shall come forth from the…