The Word of the Lord
1The word of the LORD that came to aJoel the son of Pethuel.
2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. bHath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3cTell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
The Locust Devastation
4dThat which the palmerworm hath left hath the elocust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5Awake, ye fdrunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; gfor it is cut off from your mouth.
6For ha nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, iwhose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7He hath jlaid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8kLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for lthe husband of her youth.
9mThe meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, nmourn.
10The field is wasted, othe land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: pthe new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11qBe ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12rThe vine is dried up, 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: because sjoy is withered away from the sons of men.
A Cry to the Lord
13tGird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
14uSanctify ye a fast, call va solemn assembly, gather the elders and wall the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Destruction from the Lord
15xAlas for the day! for ythe day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
16Is not the meat zcut off before our eyes, yea, ajoy and gladness from the house of our God?
17The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
18How do bthe beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19O LORD, cto thee will I cry: for dthe fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
20The beasts of the field ecry also unto thee: for fthe rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
The Dark Day of the Lord
1Blow aye the trumpet in Zion, and bsound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for cthe day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
2dA day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: ea great people and a strong; fthere hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as gthe garden of Eden before them, hand behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4iThe appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
5jLike the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
6Before their face the people shall be much pained: kall faces shall gather blackness.
7They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their lranks:
8Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall menter in at the windows nlike a thief.
10oThe earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: pthe sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11qAnd the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: rfor he is strong that executeth his word: for the sday of the LORD is great and very terrible; and twho can abide it?
The Lord’s Call to Repentance
12Therefore also now, saith the LORD, uturn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13And vrend your heart, and not wyour garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is xgracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
14yWho knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave za blessing behind him; even aa meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
15bBlow the trumpet in Zion, csanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
16Gather the people, dsanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: elet the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep fbetween the porch and the altar, and let them say, gSpare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: hwherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Great Things from the Lord
18Then will the LORD ibe jealous for his land, and pity his people.
19Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you jcorn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
20But kI will remove far off from you lthe northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part mtoward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
21Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
22Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for nthe pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and orejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he pwill cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25And I will restore to you the years qthat the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26And ye shall reat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be sashamed.
27And ye shall know that I am tin the midst of Israel, and that uI am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
A Pouring Out of God’s Spirit
28vAnd it shall come to pass afterward, that wI will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; xand your sons and your ydaughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29And also upon zthe servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30And aI will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31bThe sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, cbefore the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
32And it shall come to pass, that dwhosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for ein mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in fthe remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
1For, behold, ain those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2bI will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and cwill plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3And they have dcast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
4Yea, and what have ye to do with me, eO Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
5Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
6The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
7Behold, fI will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
8And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the gSabeans, to a people hfar off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
9iProclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10jBeat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: klet the weak say, I am strong.
11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause lthy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to mjudge all the heathen round about.
13nPut ye in the sickle, for othe harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the ppress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for qthe day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: rbut the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my sholy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Judah to Dwell Forever
18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a tfountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21For I will ucleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.