JOEL
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¤1 °1This is the word of Yahweh that came to
Joel, son of Pethuel. § The attack of the locusts°2 Hear this, you elders! Listen,
all you, land dwellers! Has
such happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? °3 Tell it to your children, then your children to
their children, and then their children to the next generation. °4 What the cutting locusts left, the swarming locusts
ate. What the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts ate. What the
hopping locusts left, the destroying locusts ate. °5 Wake up, drunkards, and weep! Wail, drinkers of
wine, because of the sweet wine withheld from your mouths. °6 A nation numerous and mighty has invaded my country. It
has the teeth of a lion and the fangs of a lioness. °7 It has destroyed my vines and ruined my fig trees.
It has stripped off their bark and left white their branches. °8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth, grieving for the
husband of her youth. °9 Grain and drink offerings are not found in the House
of Yahweh. The priests who minister before Yahweh are in mourning. °10 The fields are in ruin, the earth mourns, for the
grain is destroyed; the wine fails and the oil dries up. °11 Grieve, O you farmers; wail, O you vine growers,
over the barley and the wheat, for the harvest of the field has perished. °12 The vine withers, the fig tree wilts away;
pomegranate, palm and apple – all the trees of the field dry up. Oh, how joy
has faded away among all these people! °13 Gird yourselves, O priests, and weep; mourn, O
ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my
God! For the house of your God is deprived of grain and drink offering. °14 Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Summon the elders
and all who live in the land into the house of your God, and
cry out to Yahweh, °15 “What a dreadful day – the day of Yahweh
that draws near and comes as ruin from the Almighty!” °16 Has not the food been taken away from us before our
very eyes, and joy and gladness too from the house of our God? °17 The seed under the clods lies shriveled; the
granaries are in ruins, the barns are broken down, for the harvest has dried
up. °18 How the cattle groan! The herds wander
and moan, for they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep suffer. °19 To you, Yahweh, I call. Fire has razed the open
pasture; flames have burned the trees. °20 Even
wild beasts cry out to you for the streams have dried up, for the pastures
have been devoured by fire. ¤2 °1 Blow
the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all dwellers in
the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh is coming. Yes,
the day is fast approaching – °2 a day of gloom and darkness, a day of
clouds and blackness. A
vast and mighty army comes, like
dawn spreading over the mountain, such as has never occurred before nor will
happen again in the future. °3 In front a fire devours, behind
a flame consumes. The
land ahead that appears like a garden soon becomes like a desert, nothing
escapes their onslaught. °4 They look like horses, they
gallop along like chargers. °5 With the clattering of chariots, they
leap over the mountains; with
crackling like burning stubble, they
charge – a mighty army arrayed for battle. °6 Before them nations are appalled, and
every face turns pale. °7 They attack like warriors; they
scale walls like soldiers. Marching
in line, they move onward without
swerving from their course, °8 without jostling one another, everyone of
them marches straight ahead; amid
a hail of arrows they run, they
press without breaking ranks. °9 They rush upon the city; they
leap over the walls; they
break into the houses, like
thieves enter through the windows. °10 Before them the earth shakes and
the heavens tremble, the
sun and moon grow dark and
the stars lose their twinkle. °11 Yahweh thunders before his army, his
vast and mighty forces. The
day of Yahweh is exceedingly great, terrible and dreadful – who can endure
it? § Return to me with weeping°12 Yahweh says, “Yet even now, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. °13 Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to Yahweh, your God – gracious and compassionate.” Yahweh is slow to anger, full of kindness, and he repents of having punished. °14 Who knows? Probably he will relent once more and spare some part of the harvest from which we may bring sacred offerings to Yahweh, your God. °15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a sacred fast, call a solemn assembly. °16 Gather the people, sanctify the community, bring together the elders, even the children and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his bed, and the bride her room. °17 Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, Yahweh’s ministers, weep and say: Spare your people, Yahweh. Do not humble them or make them an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples: Where is their God? °18 Yahweh has become jealous for his land; he has had
pity on his people. °19 Yahweh has given an answer; he says to
them, “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil which will fully satisfy you;
never again will you be scorned by the nations. °20 I will drive far from you the enemy from the North
and pursue him towards a land of drought and desolation: his vanguard to the
Eastern Sea, his rearguard to the Western Sea. Its stench will rise
everywhere. See that I do great things.” °21 Fear not, O earth! exult and rejoice for Yahweh has
acted magnificently! °22 Do not be afraid, beasts of the field,
for the desert prairies are green again, the trees are with fruit, the fig
tree and the vine have yielded their riches. °23 Sons of Zion, be glad! Rejoice in Yahweh your God,
for he has sent you the blessing of autumn rain and showers – the autumn and
spring rains as in the past. °24 The threshing-floors will be full of
grain, the vats overflowing with new wine and oil. °25 I will compensate you for the years devastated by
grasshoppers, may-bugs, crickets and locusts – the powerful army I sent
against you. °26 You will eat and be satisfied, and you
will praise the name of Yahweh, your God, who has done wonders for you. °27 And then
you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, I, Yahweh your God, no other!
Never again will my people be shamed. § I will pour out my spirit¤3 °1 In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on every mortal. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. °2 Even upon my servants and maidens, I will pour out my Spirit on that day. °3 I will show wonders in the heavens, and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke. °4 The sun will darken and the moon turn to blood at the approach of the great and dreadful day of God. °5 Then all who call upon the name of Yahweh will be saved. For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant, as Yahweh has said; in Jerusalem some will be saved – those
whom Yahweh will call. § The final battle and salvation¤4 °1 In those days and at that time when I reestablish
Judah and Jerusalem, °2 I shall let all the nations gather
together and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I shall uphold against
them the cause of Israel, my people and my heritage. For they have dispersed
them among the nations and divided my land. °3 They
cast lots for my people; they gave a boy for a harlot, and a girl for the
wine they drank. °4 And you Tyre and Sidon, and all the districts of
Philistia, what are you for me? Will you take revenge on me? If you want to
do that, swiftly and immediately will I take reprisals against you! °5 You who carried off my silver and gold and my finest
jewelry to your temples! °6 You sold to the Greeks the people of Judah and Jerusalem
removing them far away from their own land. °7 But now
I am going to summon them from wherever you sold them, and I will return your
deed on your head. °8 Yahweh says: I will sell your sons and
daughters to the Judeans who will then sell them to the Sabaeans in a distant
land. °9 Make this known among the nations, proclaim the holy
war, call the warriors, let men of war advance! °10 Hammer
your plowshares into swords, your sickles into spears! Let the weak say: I am
a warrior! And the meek: I too will fight! °11 Come quickly, neighboring nations, and assemble! °12 Rise up, O peoples, and come to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, nations. °13 Bring a sickle for the harvest is ripe; come and
tread for the winepress is full and the vats overflow, so great is their
wickedness! °14 Multitudes and more multitudes in the Valley of
Verdict! The day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of Verdict! °15 The sun and the moon become dark, the stars lose
their radiance. °16 Yahweh roars from Zion and raises his
voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth are shaken. Indeed Yahweh is a refuge
for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites. °17 You
will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be a holy place, and foreigners will never pass through there
again. °18 On that day the mountains shall drip wine and the
hills flow with milk; all the streams of Judah will run with water and a
fountain will spring from the House of Yahweh, and water the valley of
Shittim. °19 On the other hand, Egypt will be devastated and Edom
will become a deserted wasteland because they committed violence against
Judah, and shed innocent blood in their country. °20 But
Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem through all generations. °21 And I shall avenge their blood and not leave it
unpunished, for Yahweh dwells in Zion. The End. |