Bible: Joel 1-2
Introduction
1:1 This 1 is the
to Joel 4 the son of Pethuel:
A Locust Plague Foreshadows the Day of the Lord
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
A Call to Lament
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
So the priests, those who serve the
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
and cry out to the
1:15 How awful that day will be! 48
For the day of the
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
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
The Locusts’ Devastation
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
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
Indeed, his warriors 104 are innumerable; 105
Surely his command is carried out! 106
Yes, the day of the
and very terrifying – who can survive 108 it?
An Appeal for Repentance
2:12 “Yet even now,” the
“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
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
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
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. 117
Let them say, “Have pity, O
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?”
The Lord ’s Response
2:18 Then the
he had compassion on his people.
2:19 The
“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
2:21 Do not fear, my land!
Rejoice and be glad,
because the
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
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
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
My people will never again be put to shame.
An Outpouring of the Spirit
2:28 141 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
that great and terrible day!
2:32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 149 there will be those who survive, 150
just as the