Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision! ¹ 

This ¹  is the Lord’s message ²  that was given ³  to Joel ⁴  the son of Pethuel:

They sound like ¹  chariots rumbling ²  over mountain tops, like the crackling ³  of blazing fire consuming stubble, like the noise of ⁴  a mighty army ⁵  being drawn up for battle. ⁶ 

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

The sunlight will be turned to darkness and the moon to the color of blood, ¹  before the day of the Lord comes – that great and terrible day!

The threshing floors are full of grain; the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.

For a nation ¹  has invaded ²  our ³  land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ⁴  Their teeth are like those ⁵  of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ⁶ 

Wail ¹  like a young virgin ²  clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of ³  her husband-to-be. ⁴ 

Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests! 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. ² 

Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

Egypt will be desolate and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹  in whose land they shed innocent blood.

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

Announce a holy fast; ¹  proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and ²  all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

On that day ¹  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ²  and the hills will flow with milk. ³  All the dry stream beds ⁴  of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple ⁵  of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ⁶ 

Blow the trumpet ¹  in Zion; 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  it is near! ³ 

People ¹  writhe in fear when they see them. ²  All of their faces turn pale with fright. ³ 

The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes – the pomegranate, date, and apple ¹  as well. In fact, ²  all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people ³  has dried up!

I will produce portents both in the sky ¹  and on the earth – blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

The voice of the Lord thunders ¹  as he leads his army. ²  Indeed, his warriors ³  are innumerable; ⁴  Surely his command is carried out! ⁵  Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ⁶  and very terrifying – who can survive ⁷  it?

How awful that day will be! ¹  For the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. ²