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 theland. 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] theirchildren, and their children another generation. {1:4} That which thepalmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locusthath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-wormhath left hath the caterpillar eaten. {1:5} Awake, ye drunkards, andweep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; forit is cut off from your mouth. {1:6} For a nation is come up upon myland, 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 vinewaste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast itaway; the branches thereof are made white. {1:8} Lament like a virgingirded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. {1:9} Themeal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house ofJehovah; the priests, Jehovah’s ministers, mourn. {1:10} The field islaid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wineis dried up, the oil languisheth. {1:11} Be confounded, O yehusbandmen, 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: forjoy is withered away from the sons of men. {1:13} Gird yourselves [withsackcloth], and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar;come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for themeal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house ofyour God. {1:14} Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather theold men [and] all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovahyour God, and cry unto Jehovah. {1:15} Alas for the day! for the day ofJehovah 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 gladnessfrom the house of our God? {1:17} The seeds rot under their clods; thegarners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain iswithered. {1:18} How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle areperplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep aremade desolate. {1:19} O Jehovah, to thee do I cry; for the fire hathdevoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned allthe trees of the field. {1:20} Yea, the beasts of the field pant untothee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured thepastures of the wilderness.

{2:1} Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holymountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day ofJehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; {2:2} a day of darkness andgloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread uponthe mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been everthe like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years ofmany generations. {2:3} A fire devoureth before them; and behind them aflame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, andbehind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them.{2:4} The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and ashorsemen, so do they run. {2:5} Like the noise of chariots on the topsof the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire thatdevoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. {2:6} Attheir 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 hispath; and they burst through the weapons, and break not off [theircourse]. {2:9} They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; theyclimb 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 andthe moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. {2:11} AndJehovah 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 isgreat 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, andnot your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is graciousand merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, andrepenteth him of the evil. {2:14} Who knoweth whether he will not turnand repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and adrink-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, andthose that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from hischamber, and the bride out of her closet. {2:17} Let the priests, theministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and letthem say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage toreproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should theysay among the peoples, Where is their God? {2:18} Then was Jehovahjealous for his land, and had pity on his people. {2:19} And Jehovahanswered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, andnew wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will nomore make you a reproach among the nations; {2:20} but I will removefar off from you the northern [army], and will drive it into a landbarren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinderpart into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its illsavor shall come up, because it hath done great things. {2:21} Fearnot, 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 thewilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree andthe vine do yield their strength. {2:23} Be glad then, ye children ofZion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the formerrain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, theformer rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. {2:24} And thefloors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with newwine and oil. {2:25} And I will restore to you the years that thelocust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and thepalmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. {2:26} And ye shalleat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Jehovahyour God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shallnever be put to shame. {2:27} And ye shall know that I am in the midstof Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else; andmy people shall never be put to shame. {2:28} And it shall come to passafterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sonsand your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,your young men shall see visions: {2:29} and also upon the servants andupon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. {2:30} AndI 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, andthe moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovahcometh. {2:32} And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call onthe name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and inJerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, andamong the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call.

{3:1} For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shallbring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, {3:2} I will gatherall nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for myheritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and theyhave parted my land, {3:3} and have cast lots for my people, and havegiven a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they maydrink. {3:4} Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all theregions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if yerecompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense uponyour 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} andhave sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto thesons 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 soldthem, and will return your recompense upon your own head; {3:8} and Iwill sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children ofJudah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation faroff: for Jehovah hath spoken it. {3:9} Proclaim ye this among thenations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of wardraw 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 gatheryourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, OJehovah. {3:12} Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to thevalley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nationsround 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 theirwickedness is great. {3:14} Multitudes, multitudes in the valley ofdecision! 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 theirshining. {3:16} And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voicefrom Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovahwill be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children ofIsrael. {3:17} So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling inZion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall nostrangers pass through her any more. {3:18} And it shall come to passin that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and thehills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow withwaters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, andshall water the valley of Shittim. {3:19} Egypt shall be a desolation,and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to thechildren of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.{3:20} But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation togeneration. {3:21} And I will cleanse their blood, that I have notcleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.

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