1The word of the LORD that camea to Joelb son of Pethuel.
An Invasion of Locusts
listen, all who live in the land.e
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?f
3Tell it to your children,g
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.h
4What the locusti swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have leftj
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine;l
wail because of the new wine,
for it has been snatchedm from your lips.
6A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;n
it has the teetho of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
and ruined my fig trees.q
It has stripped off their bark
and thrown it away,
leaving their branches white.
8Mourn like a virgin in sackclothr
grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
9Grain offerings and drink offeringss
are cut off from the house of the LORD.
The priests are in mourning,t
those who minister before the LORD.
10The fields are ruined,
the ground is dried up;u
the grain is destroyed,
the new winev is dried up,
the olive oil fails.w
11Despair, you farmers,x
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,y
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.z
12The vine is dried up
and the fig tree is withered;a
the pomegranate,b the palm and the apple2 tree—
all the trees of the field—are dried up.c
Surely the people’s joy
is withered away.
A Call to Lamentation
13Put on sackcloth,d you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who ministere before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offeringsf
are withheld from the house of your God.
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the landh
to the house of the LORD your God,
15Alas for thatk day!
For the day of the LORDl is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.3,m
16Has not the food been cut offn
before our very eyes—
joy and gladnesso
from the house of our God?p
17The seeds are shriveled
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
18How the cattle moan!
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;r
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.s
19To you, LORD, I call,t
for fireu has devoured the pasturesv in the wilderness
and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20Even the wild animals pant for you;w
the streams of water have dried upx
and fire has devoured the pasturesy in the wilderness.
An Army of Locusts
sound the alarm on my holy hill.c
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORDd is coming.
It is close at hande—
2a day of darknessf and gloom,g
a day of cloudsh and blackness.i
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty armyj comes,
such as never was in ancient timesk
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3Before them firel devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,m
behind them, a desert wasten—
nothing escapes them.
4They have the appearance of horses;o
they gallop along like cavalry.
5With a noise like that of chariotsp
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fireq consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
6At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;r
every face turns pale.s
7They charge like warriors;t
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,u
not swervingv from their course.
8They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
9They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;w
like thieves they enter through the windows.x
10Before them the earth shakes,y
the heavens tremble,z
the sun and moon are darkened,a
and the stars no longer shine.b
at the head of his army;e
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the LORD is great;f
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?g
Rend Your Heart
12“Even now,” declares the LORD,
“returnh to me with all your heart,i
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13Rend your heartj
and not your garments.k
Returnl to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,m
slow to anger and abounding in love,n
and he relents from sending calamity.o
14Who knows? He may turnp and relentq
and leave behind a blessingr—
grain offerings and drink offeringss
for the LORD your God.
declare a holy fast,v
call a sacred assembly.w
16Gather the people,
consecratex the assembly;
bring together the elders,y
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroomz leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17Let the priests, who ministera before the LORD,
weepb between the portico and the altar.c
Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,d
a byworde among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?f’ ”
The LORD’s Answer
19The LORD replied1 to them:
“I am sending you grain, new winei and olive oil,j
enough to satisfy you fully;k
never again will I make you
an object of scornl to the nations.
20“I will drive the northern hordem far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stenchn will go up;
its smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things!
21Do not be afraid,o land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.p
Surely the LORD has done great things!q
22Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.r
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig trees and the vinet yield their riches.u
23Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoicev in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.w
He sends you abundant showers,x
both autumny and spring rains,z as before.
24The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflowa with new wineb and oil.
25“I will repay you for the years the locustsc have eatend—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm2—
my great armye that I sent among you.
26You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,f
and you will praiseg the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wondersh for you;
never again will my people be shamed.i
27Then you will knowj that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORDk your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.l
The Day of the LORD
28“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spiritm on all people.n
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,o
your old men will dream dreams,p
your young men will see visions.
29Even on my servants,q both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.r
30I will show wonders in the heavenss
and on the earth,t
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31The sun will be turned to darknessu
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.v
32And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORDw will be saved;x
for on Mount Ziony and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,z
as the LORD has said,
even among the survivorsa
The Nations Judged
1“In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunesa of Judahb and Jerusalem,
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.2,d
There I will put them on triale
for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scatteredf my people among the nations
and divided up my land.
3They cast lotsg for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wineh to drink.
4“Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidoni and all you regions of Philistia?j Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.k 5For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.3,l 6You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,m that you might send them far from their homeland.
7“See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,n and I will returno on your own heads what you have done. 8I will sell your sonsp and daughters to the people of Judah,q and they will sell them to the Sabeans,r a nation far away.” The LORD has spoken.s
9Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!t
Rouse the warriors!u
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooksv into spears.w
Let the weaklingx say,
“I am strong!”y
11Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemblez there.
Bring down your warriors,a LORD!
12“Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,b
for there I will sit
to judgec all the nations on every side.
13Swing the sickle,d
for the harveste is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,f
for the winepressg is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”
14Multitudes,h multitudes
in the valleyi of decision!
For the day of the LORDj is near
in the valley of decision.k
15The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.l
16The LORD will roarm from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;n
the earth and the heavens will tremble.o
But the LORD will be a refugep for his people,
a strongholdq for the people of Israel.
Blessings for God’s People
17“Then you will knowr that I, the LORD your God,s
dwell in Zion,t my holy hill.u
Jerusalem will be holy;v
never again will foreigners invade her.w
18“In that day the mountains will drip new wine,x
and the hills will flow with milk;y
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.z
A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s housea
and will water the valley of acacias.4,b
19But Egyptc will be desolate,
Edomd a desert waste,
because of violencee done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20Judah will be inhabited foreverf
and Jerusalem through all generations.
21Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?g
No, I will not.h”
The LORD dwells in Zion!i