1:1 This
to Joel
1:2 Listen to this, you elders;
pay attention,
Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life
or in the lifetime
1:3 Tell your children
have your children tell their children,
and their children the following generation.
1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed,
what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed,
and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!
1:5 Wake up, you drunkards,
Wail, all you wine drinkers,
because the sweet wine
1:6 For a nation
There are so many of them they are too numerous to count.
Their teeth are like those
they tear apart their prey like a lioness.
1:7 They
they have turned our
They have completely stripped off the bark
the
1:8 Wail
lamenting the death of
1:9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple
So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.
1:10 The crops of the fields
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1:11 Be distressed,
wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.
For the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine has dried up;
the fig tree languishes –
the pomegranate, date, and apple
In fact,
Indeed, the joy of the people
1:13 Get dressed
Wail, you who minister at the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,
because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple of your God anymore.
1:14 Announce a holy fast;
proclaim a sacred assembly.
Gather the elders and
to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
1:15 How awful that day will be!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.
1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes!
There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God!
1:17 The grains of seed
Storehouses have been decimated
and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 Listen to the cattle groan!
The herds of livestock wander around in confusion
because they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help,
for fire
flames have razed
1:20 Even the wild animals
for the river beds
fire has destroyed
2:1 Blow the trumpet
sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,
for the day of the Lord is about to come.
Indeed,
2:2 It will be
a day of foreboding storm clouds,
like blackness
It is a huge and powerful army
there has never been anything like it ever before,
and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!
2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path;
a flame blazes behind them.
The land looks like the Garden of Eden
but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –
for nothing escapes them!
2:4 They look like horses;
they charge ahead like war horses.
2:5 They sound like
like the crackling
like the noise of
2:6 People
All of their faces turn pale with fright.
2:7 They
they scale walls like soldiers.
Each one proceeds on his course;
they do not alter
2:8 They do not jostle one another;
each of them marches straight ahead.
They burst through
and do not break ranks.
2:9 They rush into
they scale
They climb up into the houses;
they go in through the windows like a thief.
2:10 The earth quakes
the sky reverberates.
The sun and the moon grow dark;
the stars refuse to shine.
2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders
Indeed, his warriors
Surely his command is carried out!
Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome
and very terrifying – who can survive
2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,
“return to me with all your heart –
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Tear your hearts,
not just your garments!”
2:13 Return to the Lord your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and boundless in loyal love
2:14 Who knows?
Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve,
and leave blessing in his wake
a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God!
2:15 Blow the trumpet
Announce a holy fast;
proclaim a sacred assembly!
2:16 Gather the people;
sanctify an assembly!
Gather the elders;
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom
and the bride from her private quarters.
2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar.
Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;
please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,
to become a proverb
Why should it be said
“Where is their God?”
2:18 Then the Lord became
he had compassion on his people.
2:19 The Lord responded
“Look! I am about to restore your grain
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied.
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
2:20 I will remove the one from the north
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea,
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea.
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.”
Indeed, the Lord
2:21 Do not fear, my land!
Rejoice and be glad,
because the Lord has accomplished great things!
2:22 Do not fear, wild animals!
For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.
Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest.
2:23 Citizens of Zion,
Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done!
For he has given to you the early rains
He has sent
both the early and the late rains
2:24 The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.
2:25 I will make up for the years
that the ‘arbeh-locust
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –
my great army
2:26 You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied;
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
2:27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God; there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.
2:28 (3:1)
I will pour out my Spirit
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have revelatory dreams;
your young men will see prophetic visions.
2:29 Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness
and the moon to the color of blood,
before the day of the Lord comes –
that great and terrible day!
2:32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant