~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, O elders, And give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days? Recount about it to your sons, And let your sons recount about it to their sons, And their sons to the next generation. What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has consumed. Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness. It has made my vine a desolation And my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white. Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of Yahweh. The priests mourn, The ministers of Yahweh. The field is destroyed; The land mourns, For the grain is destroyed, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley, Because the harvest of the field perishes. The vine dries up, And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men. Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend 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. Set apart a fast as holy, Call for a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of Yahweh your God, And cry out to Yahweh. Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty. Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God? The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate; The barns are pulled down, For the grain is dried up. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. To You, O Yahweh, I cry; For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.

~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ Blow a trumpet in Zion, And make a loud shout on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of Yahweh is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of clouds and dense gloom. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a numerous and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it For the years from generation to generation. A fire consumes before them, And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run. With a noise as of chariots They leap on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire consumes the stubble, Like a mighty people arranged for battle. Before them the peoples are writhing; All faces turn pale. They run like mighty men; They climb up the wall like men of war; And they each march in line, And they do not deviate from their paths. They do not crowd each other; They march everyone in his path; When they fall against the defending weapons, They do not break ranks. They rush on the city; They run on the wall; They climb up into the houses; They enter through the windows like a thief. Before them the earth trembles; The heavens quake; The sun and the moon grow dark, And the stars lose their brightness. But Yahweh gives forth His voice before His military force; Surely His camp is very numerous, For mighty is he who does His word. The day of Yahweh is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? “Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For Yahweh your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion, Set apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly, Gather the people, set apart the congregation as holy, Assemble the elders, Gather the infants and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Pity Your people, O Yahweh, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’” Then Yahweh will be zealous for His land And will spare His people. Then Yahweh will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations. “But I will remove the northern military force far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, And its vanguard into the eastern sea, And its rear guard into the western sea. And its stench will rise up, and its foul smell will rise up, For it has done great things.” Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, For Yahweh has done great things. Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit; The fig tree and the vine have yielded their full force. So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be glad in Yahweh your God, For He has given you the early rain in righteousness. And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and late rains as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil. “Then I will pay back to you in full for the years That the swarming locust has consumed, The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, My great military force which I sent among you. “And you will have plenty to consume and be satisfied And praise the name of Yahweh your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am Yahweh your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame. “And it will be afterwards That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; Your old men will dream dreams; Your young men will see visions. “Even on the male slaves and female slaves I will in those days pour out My Spirit. “And I will put wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke. “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. “And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As Yahweh has said, Even among the survivors whom Yahweh calls.

~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land. “They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine that they may drink. “Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. “Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My desirable treasures to your temples, and sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks in order to remove them far from their borders, behold, I am going to rouse them from the place where you have sold them and return your recompense on your head. “Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for Yahweh has spoken. Call out this message among the nations: Set yourselves apart for a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the men of war approach, let them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.” Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves. There, bring down, O Yahweh, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be roused up And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. Send in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars lose their brightness. And Yahweh roars from Zion And gives forth His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth quake. But Yahweh is a refuge for His people And a strong defense to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more. And it will be in that day, That the mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of Yahweh To water the valley of Shittim. Egypt will become a desolation, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem from generation to generation. And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.
