Joel 2:12–27

¹²“Yet even now,” says the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the Lord, your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,

and repents of evil.

¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and repent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

a cereal offering and a drink offering

for the Lord, your God?

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sanctify a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

¹⁶gather the people.

Sanctify the congregation;

assemble the elders;

gather the children,

even nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar

let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep

and say, “Spare thy people, O Lord,

and make not thy heritage a reproach,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

¹⁸Then the Lord became jealous for his land,

and had pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord answered and said to his people,

“Behold, I am sending to you

grain, wine, and oil,

and you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a reproach among the nations.

²⁰“I will remove the northerner far from you,

and drive him into a parched and desolate land,

his front into the eastern sea,

and his rear into the western sea;

the stench and foul smell of him will rise,

for he has done great things.

²¹“Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,

for the Lord has done great things!

²²Fear not, you beasts 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.

²³“Be glad, O sons of Zion,

and rejoice in the Lord, your God;

for he has given the early rain for your vindication,

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴“The threshing floors shall be full of grain,

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

²⁵I will restore to you the years

which the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

my great army, which I sent among you.

²⁶“You 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 none else.

And my people shall never again

be put to shame.