| 1:1 |
The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethu′elPethuel: |
| 1:2 |
Hear this you agedelders; men give ear all inhabitants of the land Has such a thing happened in your days or in the days of your fathers |
| 1:3 |
Tell your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children to another generation |
| 1:5 |
Awake you drunkards and weep; and wail all you drinkers of wine because of the sweet wine for it is cut off from your mouth |
| 1:6 |
For a nation has come up against my land powerful and withoutbeyond number; its teeth are lions teeth and it has the fangs of a lioness |
| 1:7 |
It has laid waste my vinesvine and splintered my fig treestree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white |
| 1:8 |
Lament like a virgin girdedwearing with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth |
| 1:9 |
The cerealgrain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord The priests mourn the ministers of the Lord |
| 1:10 |
The fields are laiddestroyed waste the ground mourns; because the grain is destroyed the wine failsdries up the oil languishes |
| 1:11 |
Be confoundedashamed O tillers of the soil; wail O vinedressers for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished |
| 1:12 |
The vine withersdries up; the fig tree languishes Pomegranate palm and apple all the trees of the field are withered;dried up and gladness failsdries up from the sonschildren of menman |
| 1:13 |
GirdPut on sackcloth and lament O priests; wail O ministers of the altar Go in pass the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God Because cerealgrain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God |
| 1:14 |
SanctifyConsecrate 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 |
| 1:17 |
The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruinedtorn down because the grain has faileddried up |
| 1:18 |
How the beasts groan The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dismayedsuffer |
| 1:19 |
UntoTo theeyou O Lord I crycall For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and flame has burned all the trees of the field |
| 1:20 |
Even the wild beasts cryof tothe theefield pant for you because the water brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness |
| 2:1 |
Blow thea trumpet in Zion; sound thean alarm on my holy mountain Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near |
| 2:2 |
a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and thick darkness Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been frombefore of old nor will be again after them through the years of all generations |
| 2:3 |
Fire devours before them and behind them a flame burns The land is like the garden of Eden before them but afterbehind them a desolate wilderness and nothing escapes them |
| 2:6 |
Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale |
| 2:7 |
Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths |
| 2:8 |
They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted |
| 2:9 |
They leap upon the city they run upon the walls; they climb up into the houses they enter through the windows like a thief |
| 2:10 |
The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining |
| 2:11 |
The Lord utters his voice before his army for his hostcamp is exceedingly great; he thatwho executes his word is powerful For the day of the Lord is great and very terribleawesome; who can endure it |
| 2:12 |
Yet even now saysdeclares the Lord return to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning; |
| 2:13 |
and 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 repentshe ofrelents evilover disaster |
| 2:14 |
Who knows whether he will not turn and repentrelent and leave a blessing behind him a cerealgrain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God |
| 2:15 |
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctifyconsecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; |
| 2:16 |
gather the people SanctifyConsecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children even nursing infants Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber |
| 2:17 |
Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests the ministers of the Lord weep and say Spare thyyour people O Lord and make not thyyour heritage a reproach a byword among the nations Why should they say among the peoples Where is their God |
| 2:20 |
I will remove the northerner far from you and drive him into a parched and desolate land his frontvanguard into the eastern sea and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise for he has done great things |
| 2:22 |
Fear 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 |
| 2:23 |
Be glad O sonschildren 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 |
| 2:24 |
The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil |
| 2:25 |
I will restore to you the years whichthat the swarming locust has eaten the hopper the destroyer and the cutter my great army which I sent among you |
| 2:27 |
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord am your God and there is none else And my people shall never again be put to shame |
| 2:28 |
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spiritSpirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions |
| 2:29 |
Even uponon the menservantsmale and maidservantsfemale servants in those days I will pour out my spiritSpirit |
| 2:30 |
And I will giveshow portentswonders in the heavens and on the earth blood and fire and columns of smoke |
| 2:31 |
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terribleawesome day of the Lord comes |
| 2:32 |
And it shall come to pass that alleveryone who callcalls uponon the name of the Lord shall be delivered;saved forFor 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 |
| 3:2 |
I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valleyValley of Jehosh′aphatJehoshaphat andAnd I will enter into judgment with them there on accountbehalf of my people and my heritage Israel because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land |
| 3:3 |
and have cast lots for my people and have giventraded a boy for a harlotprostitute and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it |
| 3:4 |
What 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 requitereturn your deedpayment uponon your own head swiftly and speedily |
| 3:6 |
You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks removingin order to remove them far from their own border |
| 3:7 |
ButBehold now I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them and I will requitereturn your deedpayment uponon your own head |
| 3:8 |
I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sonspeople of Judah and they will sell them to the Sabe′ansSabeans to a nation far off;away for the Lord has spoken |
| 3:9 |
Proclaim this among the nations: PrepareConsecrate for war; stir up the mighty men Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up |
| 3:11 |
Hasten and come all you surrounding nations roundand about gather yourselves there Bring down thyyour warriors O Lord |
| 3:12 |
Let the nations bestirstir themselves up and come up to the valleyValley of Jehosh′aphatJehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations round about |
| 3:13 |
Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe Go in tread for the winewinepress press is full The vats overflow for their wickednessevil is great |
| 3:16 |
AndThe the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shakequake But the Lord is a refuge to his people a stronghold to the people of Israel |
| 3:17 |
So you shall know that I am the Lord your God who dwelldwells in Zion my holy mountain And Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall never again pass through it |
| 3:18 |
And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine and the hills shall flow with milk and all the streamstreambeds beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valleyValley of Shittim |
| 3:20 |
But Judah shall be inhabited forforever ever and Jerusalem to all generations |
| 3:21 |
I will avenge their blood andblood I willhave not clearavenged the guilty for the Lord dwells in Zion |