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

(4:1) ¹  For look! In those ²  days and at that time I will return the exiles ³  to Judah and Jerusalem. ⁴ 

I will make up for the years ¹  that the ‘arbeh-locust ²  consumed your crops ³  – the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust – my great army ⁴  that I sent against you.

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.

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 

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!

You will be convinced ¹  that I the Lord am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem ²  will be holy – conquering armies ³  will no longer pass through it.

Lend your aid ¹  and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves ²  to that place.” Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ³ 

Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them. I will repay you for what you have done! ¹ 

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 

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹  For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ²  there will be those who survive, ³  just as the Lord has promised; the remnant ⁴  will be those whom the Lord will call. ⁵ 

You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks, removing them far from their own country. ¹ 

(3:1) ¹  After all of this ²  I will pour out my Spirit ³  on all kinds of people. ⁴  Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; ⁵  your young men will see prophetic visions.

and they cast lots for my people. They traded ¹  a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ² 

What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, ¹  what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! ² 

I will avenge ¹  their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

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 

Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. ¹  Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb ²  among the nations. Why should it be said ³  among the peoples, “Where is their God?”

Who knows? Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹  and leave blessing in his wake ²  – a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ³ 

“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, ¹  not just your garments!”