
Joel

   {1:1} The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
{1:2} Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
{1:3} Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their
children, and their children another generation. {1:4} That which the
palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust
hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm
hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. {1:5} Awake, ye drunkards, and
weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for
it is cut off from your mouth. {1:6} For a nation is come up upon my
land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. {1:7} He hath laid my vine
waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it
away; the branches thereof are made white. {1:8} Lament like a virgin
girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. {1:9} The
meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of
Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn. {1:10} The field is
laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine
is dried up, the oil languisheth. {1:11} Be confounded, O ye
husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley;
for the harvest of the field is perished. {1:12} The vine is withered,
and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also,
and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for
joy is withered away from the sons of men. {1:13} Gird yourselves [with
sackcloth], and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar;
come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the
meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of
your God. {1:14} Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the
old men [and] all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah
your God, and cry unto Jehovah. {1:15} Alas for the day! for the day of
Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
{1:16} Is not the food cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness
from the house of our God? {1:17} The seeds rot under their clods; the
garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is
withered. {1:18} How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are
made desolate. {1:19} O Jehovah, to thee do I cry; for the fire hath
devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all
the trees of the field. {1:20} Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto
thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the
pastures of the wilderness.



   {2:1} Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of
Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; {2:2} a day of darkness and
gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon
the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever
the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of
many generations. {2:3} A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a
flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and
behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them.
{2:4} The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so do they run. {2:5} Like the noise of chariots on the tops
of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that
devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. {2:6} At
their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale.
{2:7} They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war;
and they march every one on his ways, and they break not their ranks.
{2:8} Neither doth one thrust another; they march every one in his
path; and they burst through the weapons, and break not off [their
course]. {2:9} They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they
climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief.
{2:10} The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and
the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. {2:11} And
Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great;
for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is
great and very terrible; and who can abide it? {2:12} Yet even now,
saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning: {2:13} and rend your heart, and
not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and
repenteth him of the evil. {2:14} Who knoweth whether he will not turn
and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a
drink-offering unto Jehovah your God? {2:15} Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; {2:16} gather the people,
sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and
those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his
chamber, and the bride out of her closet. {2:17} Let the priests, the
ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let
them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to
reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they
say among the peoples, Where is their God? {2:18} Then was Jehovah
jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. {2:19} And Jehovah
answered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and
new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no
more make you a reproach among the nations; {2:20} but I will remove
far off from you the northern [army], and will drive it into a land
barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder
part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its ill
savor shall come up, because it hath done great things. {2:21} Fear
not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great things.
{2:22} Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the
wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and
the vine do yield their strength. {2:23} Be glad then, ye children of
Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former
rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the
former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. {2:24} And the
floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new
wine and oil. {2:25} And I will restore to you the years that the
locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the
palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. {2:26} And ye shall
eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Jehovah
your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall
never be put to shame. {2:27} And ye shall know that I am in the midst
of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else; and
my people shall never be put to shame. {2:28} And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions: {2:29} and also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. {2:30} And
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire,
and pillars of smoke. {2:31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah
cometh. {2:32} And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on
the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and
among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call.



   {3:1} For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall
bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, {3:2} I will gather
all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;
and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my
heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they
have parted my land, {3:3} and have cast lots for my people, and have
given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may
drink. {3:4} Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the
regions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye
recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon
your own head. {3:5} Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold,
and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things, {3:6} and
have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the
sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;
{3:7} behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold
them, and will return your recompense upon your own head; {3:8} and I
will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of
Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far
off: for Jehovah hath spoken it. {3:9} Proclaim ye this among the
nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war
draw near, let them come up. {3:10} Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
{3:11} Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather
yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O
Jehovah. {3:12} Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the
valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations
round about. {3:13} Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe:
come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their
wickedness is great. {3:14} Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.
{3:15} The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining. {3:16} And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah
will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of
Israel. {3:17} So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in
Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no
strangers pass through her any more. {3:18} And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the
hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with
waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and
shall water the valley of Shittim. {3:19} Egypt shall be a desolation,
and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the
children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
{3:20} But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to
generation. {3:21} And I will cleanse their blood, that I have not
cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.




