1:1 This 1 is the Lord’s message 2 that was given 3
to Joel 4 the son of Pethuel:
1:2 Listen to this, you elders; 5
pay attention, 6 all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life 7
or in the lifetime 8 of your ancestors? 9
1:3 Tell your children 10 about it,
have your children tell their children,
and their children the following generation. 11
1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, 12
what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed,
and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! 13
1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, 14 and weep!
Wail, all you wine drinkers, 15
because the sweet wine 16 has been taken away 17 from you. 18
1:6 For a nation 19 has invaded 20 our 21 land.
There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. 22
Their teeth are like those 23 of a lion;
they tear apart their prey like a lioness. 24
1:7 They 25 have destroyed our 26 vines; 27
they have turned our 28 fig trees into mere splinters.
They have completely stripped off the bark 29 and thrown them aside;
the 30 twigs are stripped bare. 31
1:8 Wail 32 like a young virgin 33 clothed in sackcloth,
lamenting the death of 34 her husband-to-be. 35
1:9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple 36 of the Lord anymore. 37
So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.
1:10 The crops of the fields 38 have been destroyed. 39
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1:11 Be distressed, 40 farmers;
wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.
For the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine has dried up;
the fig tree languishes –
the pomegranate, date, and apple 41 as well.
In fact, 42 all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, the joy of the people 43 has dried up!
1:13 Get dressed 44 and lament, you priests!
Wail, you who minister at the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,
because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple of your God anymore. 45
1:14 Announce a holy fast; 46
proclaim a sacred assembly.
Gather the elders and 47 all the inhabitants of the land
to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
1:15 How awful that day will be! 48
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. 49
1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! 50
There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! 51
1:17 The grains of seed 52 have shriveled beneath their shovels. 53
Storehouses have been decimated
and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! 54
The herds of livestock wander around in confusion 55
because they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, 56
for fire 57 has burned up 58 the grassy pastures, 59
flames have razed 60 all the trees in the fields.
1:20 Even the wild animals 61 cry out to you; 62
for the river beds 63 have dried up;
fire has destroyed 64 the grassy pastures. 65
2:1 Blow the trumpet 66 in Zion;
sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,
for the day of the Lord is about to come.
Indeed, 67 it is near! 68
2:2 It will be 69 a day of dreadful darkness, 70
a day of foreboding storm clouds, 71
like blackness 72 spread over the mountains.
It is a huge and powerful army 73 –
there has never been anything like it ever before,
and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! 74
2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; 75
a flame blazes behind them.
The land looks like the Garden of Eden 76 before them,
but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –
for nothing escapes them! 77
2:4 They look like horses; 78
they charge ahead like war horses.
2:5 They sound like 79 chariots rumbling 80 over mountain tops,
like the crackling 81 of blazing fire consuming stubble,
like the noise of 82 a mighty army 83 being drawn up for battle. 84
2:6 People 85 writhe in fear when they see them. 86
All of their faces turn pale with fright. 87
2:7 They 88 charge 89 like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers. 90
Each one proceeds on his course;
they do not alter 91 their path.
2:8 They do not jostle one another; 92
each of them marches straight ahead. 93
They burst through 94 the city defenses 95
and do not break ranks.
2:9 They rush into 96 the city;
they scale 97 its walls.
They climb up into the houses;
they go in through the windows like a thief.
2:10 The earth quakes 98 before them; 99
the sky reverberates. 100
The sun and the moon grow dark;
the stars refuse to shine. 101
2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders 102 as he leads his army. 103
Indeed, his warriors 104 are innumerable; 105
Surely his command is carried out! 106
Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome 107
and very terrifying – who can survive 108 it?
2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,
“return to me with all your heart –
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Tear your hearts, 109
not just your garments!”
2:13 Return to the Lord your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and boundless in loyal love 110 – often relenting from calamitous punishment. 111
2:14 Who knows?
Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, 112
and leave blessing in his wake 113 –
a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! 114
2:15 Blow the trumpet 115 in Zion.
Announce a holy fast;
proclaim a sacred assembly!
2:16 Gather the people;
sanctify an assembly!
Gather the elders;
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom
and the bride from her private quarters. 116
2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. 117
Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;
please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,
to become a proverb 118 among the nations.
Why should it be said 119 among the peoples,
“Where is their God?”
2:18 Then the Lord became 120 zealous for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
2:19 The Lord responded 121 to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain 122
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied. 123
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
2:20 I will remove the one from the north 124 far from you.
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, 125
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. 126
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” 127
Indeed, the Lord 128 has accomplished great things.
2:21 Do not fear, my land!
Rejoice and be glad,
because the Lord has accomplished great things!
2:22 Do not fear, wild animals! 129
For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.
Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. 130
2:23 Citizens of Zion, 131 rejoice!
Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! 132
For he has given to you the early rains 133 as vindication.
He has sent 134 to you the rains –
both the early and the late rains 135 as formerly.
2:24 The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.
2:25 I will make up for the years 136
that the ‘arbeh-locust 137 consumed your crops 138 –
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –
my great army 139 that I sent against you.
2:26 You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied; 140
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
2:27 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.
2:28 (3:1) 141 After all of this 142
I will pour out my Spirit 143 on all kinds of people. 144
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; 145
your young men will see prophetic visions.
2:29 Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky 146 and on the earth –
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness
and the moon to the color of blood, 147
before the day of the Lord comes –
that great and terrible day!
2:32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. 148
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 149 there will be those who survive, 150
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant 151 will be those whom the Lord will call. 152
3:1 (4:1) 153 For look! In those 154 days and at that time
I will return the exiles 155 to Judah and Jerusalem. 156
3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. 157
I will enter into judgment 158 against them there
concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, 159
whom they scattered among the nations.
They partitioned my land,
3:3 and they cast lots for my people.
They traded 160 a boy for a prostitute;
they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. 161
3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? 162
Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? 163
I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! 164
3:5 For you took my silver and my gold
and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. 165
3:6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,
removing them far from their own country. 166
3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.
I will repay you for what you have done! 167
3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to 168 the people of Judah. 169
They will sell them to the Sabeans, 170 a nation far away.
Indeed, the Lord has spoken!
3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for a holy war!
Call out the warriors!
Let all these fighting men approach and attack! 171
3:10 Beat your plowshares 172 into swords,
and your pruning hooks 173 into spears! 174
Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ 175
3:11 Lend your aid 176 and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves 177 to that place.”
Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! 178
3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up
to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.
3:13 Rush forth with 179 the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!
Come, stomp the grapes, 180 for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow.
Indeed, their evil is great! 181
3:14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision,
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision! 182
3:15 The sun and moon are darkened;
the stars withhold 183 their brightness.
3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;
from Jerusalem 184 his voice bellows out. 185
The heavens 186 and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people;
he is a stronghold for the citizens 187 of Israel.
3:17 You will be convinced 188 that I the Lord am your God,
dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem 189 will be holy –
conquering armies 190 will no longer pass through it.
3:18 On that day 191 the mountains will drip with sweet wine, 192
and the hills will flow with milk. 193
All the dry stream beds 194 of Judah will flow with water.
A spring will flow out from the temple 195 of the Lord,
watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. 196
3:19 Egypt will be desolate
and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, 197
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,
and Jerusalem will be secure 198 from one generation to the next.
3:21 I will avenge 199 their blood which I had not previously acquitted.
It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!