Joel

Chapter One

1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, son of Pethuel:

1:2 Listen to this, you elders [leaders];
give ear [pay attention], all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days [life]
or the days [life] of your fathers [ancestors]?
1:3 Tell your sons about it,
and your sons, their sons,
and their sons to the next generation.
1:4 What the gnawing locust has left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
and what the hopping locust have left,
the young stripping locust have eaten.
1:5 Wake up drunkards and weep!
Wail all you wine-drinkers
because the sweet-wine
has been cut off from your mouth.
1:6 For a nation has come upon my land
mighty and there is not number [without number];
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and its incisors [fangs] like those of a lioness.
1:7 It has laid my vines to waste
and my fig trees to splinter [ruined]
It has striped them bare [of bark] and
thrown them away;
Their branches have become white.
1:8 Wail [lament] like a young virgin girded [clothed]
in sackcloth,
for the bridegroom of her youth.
1:9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the LORD.
The priest, who are the ministers of the LORD are in mourning.
1:10 The field is ruined,
the ground is in mourning
because the grain is destroyed
The new [fresh] wine dries up
fresh [olive] oil languishes.
1:11 Be ashamed farmers,
Wail, vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
1:12 The vine dries up
and the fig tree languishes;
the pomegranate, date, and apple [tree] as well.
—all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, the joy from the sons of men [the people] has dried up!
1:13 Gird on [get dressed with sackcloth] and lament priests;
wail, you who minister at the altar!
Come spend the night in sackcloth,
ministers of my God;
for the grain offering and the drink offering
are withheld from the house [temple]
of your God.
1:14 Declare holy [consecrate] a fast [day],
call a sacred 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.
1:15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
1:16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
and gladness and joy from the house of our God?
1:17 The seeds shrivel
under their shovels [or clods of earth];
The storehouses lie desolate,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
1:18 How the cattle groan!
The herds of livestock wander around in confusion, because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1:19 To you, LORD, I cry [for help],
for fire has consumed the grassy pastures [of wilderness]
and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
1:20 Even the beasts of the field [wild animals]
long for you [for food and water];
for the streams [sources] of water have dried up;
for fire has consumed the grassy pastures [of wilderness]

Chapter Two

2:1 Blow a trumpet in Zion,
and sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming.
Surely it is near,
2:2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness [blackness].
Like dawn is spread over the mountains,
a great and powerful people [army]—
There has never been anything like it
from ancient times and after it—
it will not happen again, for years of generation to generation [to come].
2:3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a blazes burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
behind them a desolate waste
and nothing at all escapes them.
2:4 They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop like war horses.
2:5 With a noise as of chariots,
they leap over the tops of the mountains,
like the sound [crackling] of fire consuming stubble,
as a mighty people [army] drawn up for battle.
2:6 Before it [army], the people [plural] writhe in fear
All their faces turn pale.
2:7 Like warriors, they charge
as men of battle [soldiers], they scale the wall;
and each marches [advances] in his line
and they do not deviate from their paths.
2:8 They do not crowd each other,
each marches straight ahead.
When they burst through the defenses,
they do not break ranks.
2:9 They rush into the city,
they run on [scale up] the wall;
They climb up into the houses,
they go through the windows like a thief.
2:10 Before them the earth quakes,
the heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon grow dark;
and the stars withdraw [lose] their brightness.
2:11 The LORD gives [forth] His voice before His army;
Surely his military encampment is extremely large,
for mighty [in size] is the one [army] who executes his commands.
Indeed, the day of the LORD is awesome
and very terrifying—who can endure it?
2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping and mourning;
2:13 Tear at your hearts and not merely your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
and relenting of evil.
2:14 Who knows whether He will turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind Him [LORD],
a grain offering and a drink offering to offer
for the LORD your God?
2:15 Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Declare holy [consecrate] a fast [day],
call a sacred assembly.
2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the assembly,
assemble the elders, gather the children, and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out of his room
and the bride out of her bridal chamber.
2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the LORD,
weep between the vestibule [front entrance way] and back to the altar.
Let them say, “Have compassion [and spare], O LORD, on your people,
and do not give over your inheritance to be mocked,
a byword among the nations.
Why should the people say among the people,
“ ‘Where is your God?’ ”
2:18 Then the LORD became zealous for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
2:19 The LORD answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,
and you will be fully satisfied with it [them]
I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.
2:20 I will remove the one from the [King of] northern [horde] far from you,
and I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
[the desert]
and its vanguard [troops in front] into the eastern sea, [Dead Sea]
and the rear guard into the western sea [Mediterranean Sea].
and its stench will rise up and its foul smell will go up,
and he/it has done great things.
2:21 Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
because the LORD has done great things.
2:22 Do not fear, beasts of the field,
because the pastures of the wilderness
have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
2:23 So rejoice, O sons [citizens] of Zion,
And be glad in the LORD your God;
For He has given you that which instructs [moreh] in righteousness
And He has poured down for you the rain,
the early [autumn] rain and the late [spring] rain
as before.
2:24 The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats will overflow with fresh wine and oil.
2:25 I will make up for the years
that the swarming locust have eaten [your crops]
that is the hopping locust.
the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
my great army that I sent against you.
2:26 You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has done wondrously for you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.
2:27 “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the LORD your God,
and there is no other;
and My people will never be put to shame.
2:28 Now it will come about after this,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
2:29 “Even on the male and female servants
in those days, I will pour out My Spirit.
2:30 “I will display [lit. give] wonders in the
heavens [sky] and on the earth,
blood, fire and columns of smoke.
2:31 The sun[light] will be turned to darkness
and the moon to [the color] of blood,
before the day of the LORD comes–
that great and awesome day!
2:32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
there will be a deliverance, [of the remnant]
even among the survivors,
whom the LORD calls.

Chapter Three

3:1 “For behold, in those days and at that time,
when I return the captivity to Judah and Jerusalem,
3:2 Then 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.
3:3 “They have also cast lots for My people,
and they have traded a boy for a prostitute
and sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
3:4 “Moreover, what are you to Me,
O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia?
Are you repaying something to me?
If you are paying me back,
[I will] swiftly, speedily return your payback on your head.
3:5 “Since you have taken My silver and My gold,
brought My precious treasures to your temples [or palaces],
3:6 and sold the sons of Judah and sons of Jerusalem
to the sons of the Greeks,
in order to remove them from their own territory.
3:7 Behold, I am going to arouse them
from the place where you sold them,
and return your payback on your head.
3:8 “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 nation far away,” for the LORD has spoken.
3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Call out the warriors!
Let all these fighting men draw near [move forward] and go up [attack]!
3:10 Beat your [metal tip of the] plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks [curved knives] into spears;
Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’
3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves to that place.”
Bring down, O LORD, your warriors!
3:12 Let the nations [armies] be roused [called up]
and let them go up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
3:13 Send in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample [on the grapes], for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow, for their evil is great.
3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
3:15 The sun and moon are darkened
and the stars will gather in [diminish] their brightness.
3:16 The LORD roars from Zion;
and from Jerusalem he gives [forth] his voice
and the heavens and the earth trembles;
But the LORD is a refuge for his people;
and a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
3:17 Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,
dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem will be holy,
and foreigners [armies] will no longer pass through it.
3:18 And in that day
the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and the hills will flow with milk,
and all the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water.
A spring will go out from the house of the LORD
and will water the valley of acacias.
3:19 But Egypt will be desolate
and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence they did to the sons [people] of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem from [one] generation and
[to the next] generation.
3:21 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the LORD dwells in Zion.