Chapter 1
1The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2Hear this you old men, and give ear all you inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?a
3Tell your children of it and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.b
4That which the gnawing locust has left the swarming locust has eaten. And that which the swarming locust has left the creeping locust has eaten. And that which the creeping locust has left the stripping locust has eaten.c
5Awake you drunkards and weep. Wail all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
6For a nation has come up on My land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion. And he has the fangs of a great lion.d
7He has laid My vine waste, and splintered My fig tree. He has stripped it bare and cast it away. Its branches are made white.
8Lament like a virgin dressed with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.e
10The field is wasted. The land mourns, for the grain is wasted. The new wine has dried up. The oil languishes.
11Be ashamed, O you farmers. Wail, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
12The vine has dried up and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field have withered. Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13Gird yourselves and lament you priests. Wail you ministers of the altar. Come and lie all night in sackcloth you ministers of my God. For the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.f
14Consecrate a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God and cry out to the LORD.g
15Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand. And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.h
16Is not the grain cut off before our eyes and joy and gladness from the house of our God?i
17The seed is shrivel under their clods. The storehouses are desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly because there is no pasture for them. Yes, the flocks of sheep are decimated.
19O LORD, to You I will cry out. For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20The beasts of the field cry out also to You, for the rivers of water have dried up and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
a. Or "elders"
b. Or "children"
c. Four types of locusts representing successive waves of destruction
d. Or "great lion"
e. Or "ministers"
f. Or "ministers of my God"
g. Or "solemn assembly"
h. Or "Almighty"
i. Or "joy and gladness"
Chapter 2
1Blow the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in My holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, because it is close at hand.a
2It is a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the morning spreads on the mountains. A great and strong people is coming. There has never been anything like it, nor will there be again, even for many successive generations.b
3A fire devours before them. And behind them a flame burns. The land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yes, and nothing will escape them.
4The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so will they run.
5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains they will leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.c
6Before their face the people will be greatly pained. All faces will turn pale.
7They will run like mighty men. They will climb the wall like men of war, and everyone will march in line. And they will not break their ranks.
8Neither will one thrust another. Everyone will walk in his path. And when they fall on the sword, they will not be wounded.
9They will run to and fro in the city. They will run on the wall. They will climb up on the houses. They will enter in at the windows like a thief.
10The earth will quake before them. The heavens will tremble. The sun and the moon will be dark and the stars will withdraw their brightness.d
11Then the LORD will utter His voice before His army, for His camp is very great. For He is strong who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible, and who can endure it?e
12"Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning.f
13"And rend your heart and not your garments." Now turn to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and relenting of evil.g
14Who knows if He will return and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a drink offering to the LORD your God?h
15Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.i
16Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her closet.j
17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, so that the nations should rule over them. Therefore, why should they say among the people, 'Where is their God?'"k
18Then the LORD will be jealous for His land and pity His people.l
19Yes, the LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil. And you will be satisfied with it. And I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.m
20"But I will remove far off from you the northern army and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea and his rear guard toward the western sea. And his stench and his foul smell will come up because he has done great things."n
21Do not fear, O land. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD will do great things.
22Do not be afraid you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield in full.o
23Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God. For He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain as before.p
24And the threshing floors will be full of wheat and the vats will overflow with wine and oil.
25"Then I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army that I sent among you.q
26"And you will eat in plenty and be satisfied. And you will praise the name of the LORD your God who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people will never be put to shame.r
27"And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and no one else. And My people will never be put to shame."s
28"Now it will come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.t
29"And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit.u
30"And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.v
31"The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.w
32"And it will come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance as the LORD has said, even among the remnant whom the LORD will call.x
a. Or "trumpet"
b. Or "great and strong people"
c. Or "battle array"
d. Or "dark and the stars will withdraw their brightness"
e. Or "who can endure it?"
f. Or "with weeping and with mourning"
g. Or "relenting of evil"
h. Or "grain offering and a drink offering"
i. Or "solemn assembly"
j. Or "and those who suck the breasts"
k. Or "Where is their God?"
l. Or "pity His people"
m. Or "grain and wine and oil"
n. Or "northern army"
o. Or "fig tree and the vine yield in full"
p. Or "former rain and the latter rain"
q. Or "My great army that I sent among you"
r. Or "never be put to shame"
s. Or "never be put to shame"
t. Or "your sons and your daughters will prophesy"
u. Or "servants and on the handmaids"
v. Or "blood and fire and pillars of smoke"
w. Or "moon into blood"
x. Or "among the remnant whom the LORD will call"
Chapter 3
1"For behold, in those days and at that time, when I will bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,a
2"I will also gather all nations and will bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations and divided up My land.b
3"And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine so that they might drink.c
4"Yes, and what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Palestine? Will you render Me a recompense? And if you recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your own head.d
5Because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My precious treasures,
6"and the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks so that you might remove them far from their border,e
7"behold, I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them. And I will return your recompense on your own head.
8"And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off," for the LORD has spoken it.f
9Proclaim this among the Gentiles. Prepare war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up.g
10Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, "I am strong."h
11Assemble yourselves and come all you nations, and gather yourselves together all around. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones.i
12Let the nations be wakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations all around.j
13Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come! Go down, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.k
14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15The sun and the moon will be darkened and the stars will withdraw their brightness.
16The LORD also will roar out of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the earth will shake. But the LORD will be the hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel.l
17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and there no foreigners will pass through her anymore.m
18And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains will drop down new wine and the hills will flow with milk. And all the rivers of Judah will flow with water and a fountain will come out of the house of the LORD. And it will water the Valley of Shittim.n
19Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness because of the violence done against the children of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20But Judah will dwell forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; for the LORD dwells in Zion.o
a. Or "in those days and at that time"
b. Or "My heritage Israel"
c. Or "sold a girl for wine"
d. Or "regions of Palestine"
e. Or "sold to the Greeks"
f. Or "to a people far off"
g. Or "Prepare war"
h. Or "I am strong"
i. Or "Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones"
j. Or "to judge all the nations"
k. Or "harvest is ripe"
l. Or "hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel"
m. Or "no foreigners will pass through her anymore"
n. Or "fountain will come out of the house of the LORD"
o. Or "whom I had not acquitted"