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Joel 1

 ¹ The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

An Invasion of Locusts

 ³ Tell it to your children,
       and let your children tell it to their children,
       and their children to the next generation.

 ⁴ What the locust swarm has left
       the great locusts have eaten;
       what the great locusts have left
       the young locusts have eaten;
       what the young locusts have left
       other locusts ^[a] have eaten.

 ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
       Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
       wail because of the new wine,
       for it has been snatched from your lips.

 ⁶ A nation has invaded my land,
       powerful and without number;
       it has the teeth of a lion,
       the fangs of a lioness.

 ⁷ It has laid waste my vines
       and ruined my fig trees.
       It has stripped off their bark
       and thrown it away,
       leaving their branches white.

 ⁸ Mourn like a virgin ^[b] in sackcloth
       grieving for the husband ^[c] of her youth.

 ⁹ Grain offerings and drink offerings
       are cut off from the house of the LORD.
       The priests are in mourning,
       those who minister before the LORD.

 ¹⁰ The fields are ruined,
       the ground is dried up ^[d] ;
       the grain is destroyed,
       the new wine is dried up,
       the oil fails.

 ¹¹ Despair, you farmers,
       wail, you vine growers;
       grieve for the wheat and the barley,
       because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

 ¹² The vine is dried up
       and the fig tree is withered;
       the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree—
       all the trees of the field—are dried up.
       Surely the joy of mankind
       is withered away.

A Call to Repentance

 ¹⁴ Declare a holy fast;
       call a sacred assembly.
       Summon the elders
       and all who live in the land
       to the house of the LORD your God,
       and cry out to the LORD.

 ¹⁵ Alas for that day!
       For the day of the LORD is near;
       it will come like destruction from the Almighty. ^[e]

 ¹⁶ Has not the food been cut off
       before our very eyes—
       joy and gladness
       from the house of our God?

 ¹⁷ The seeds are shriveled
       beneath the clods. ^[f]
       The storehouses are in ruins,
       the granaries have been broken down,
       for the grain has dried up.

 ¹⁸ How the cattle moan!
       The herds mill about
       because they have no pasture;
       even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

 ¹⁹ To you, O LORD, I call,
       for fire has devoured the open pastures
       and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

 ²⁰ Even the wild animals pant for you;
       the streams of water have dried up
       and fire has devoured the open pastures.

Joel 2

An Army of Locusts

 ² a day of darkness and gloom,
       a day of clouds and blackness.
       Like dawn spreading across the mountains
       a large and mighty army comes,
       such as never was of old
       nor ever will be in ages to come.

 ³ Before them fire devours,
       behind them a flame blazes.
       Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
       behind them, a desert waste—
       nothing escapes them.

 ⁴ They have the appearance of horses;
       they gallop along like cavalry.

 ⁵ With a noise like that of chariots
       they leap over the mountaintops,
       like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
       like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

 ⁶ At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
       every face turns pale.

 ⁷ They charge like warriors;
       they scale walls like soldiers.
       They all march in line,
       not swerving from their course.

 ⁸ They do not jostle each other;
       each marches straight ahead.
       They plunge through defenses
       without breaking ranks.

 ⁹ They rush upon the city;
       they run along the wall.
       They climb into the houses;
       like thieves they enter through the windows.

 ¹⁰ Before them the earth shakes,
       the sky trembles,
       the sun and moon are darkened,
       and the stars no longer shine.

 ¹¹ The LORD thunders
       at the head of his army;
       his forces are beyond number,
       and mighty are those who obey his command.
       The day of the LORD is great;
       it is dreadful.
       Who can endure it?

Rend Your Heart

 ¹³ Rend your heart
       and not your garments.
       Return to the LORD your God,
       for he is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and abounding in love,
       and he relents from sending calamity.

 ¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and have pity
       and leave behind a blessing—
       grain offerings and drink offerings
       for the LORD your God.

 ¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
       declare a holy fast,
       call a sacred assembly.

 ¹⁶ Gather the people,
       consecrate the assembly;
       bring together the elders,
       gather the children,
       those nursing at the breast.
       Let the bridegroom leave his room
       and the bride her chamber.

 ¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
       weep between the temple porch and the altar.
       Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
       Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
       a byword among the nations.
       Why should they say among the peoples,
       'Where is their God?' "

The LORD's Answer

 ¹⁹ The LORD will reply ^[g] to them:
       "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil,
       enough to satisfy you fully;
       never again will I make you
       an object of scorn to the nations.

 ²⁰ "I will drive the northern army far from you,
       pushing it into a parched and barren land,
       with its front columns going into the eastern sea ^[h]
       and those in the rear into the western sea. ^[i]
       And its stench will go up;
       its smell will rise."
       Surely he has done great things. ^[j]

 ²¹ Be not afraid, O land;
       be glad and rejoice.
       Surely the LORD has done great things.

 ²² Be not afraid, O wild animals,
       for the open pastures are becoming green.
       The trees are bearing their fruit;
       the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

 ²³ Be glad, O people of Zion,
       rejoice in the LORD your God,
       for he has given you
       the autumn rains in righteousness. ^[k]
       He sends you abundant showers,
       both autumn and spring rains, as before.

 ²⁴ The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
       the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

 ²⁵ "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
       the great locust and the young locust,
       the other locusts and the locust swarm ^[l]—
       my great army that I sent among you.

 ²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
       and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
       who has worked wonders for you;
       never again will my people be shamed.

 ²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel,
       that I am the LORD your God,
       and that there is no other;
       never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

 ²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
       I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

 ³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens
       and on the earth,
       blood and fire and billows of smoke.

 ³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness
       and the moon to blood
       before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

 ³² And everyone who calls
       on the name of the LORD will be saved;
       for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
       there will be deliverance,
       as the LORD has said,
       among the survivors
       whom the LORD calls.

Joel 3

The Nations Judged

 ² I will gather all nations
       and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. ^[m]
       There I will enter into judgment against them
       concerning my inheritance, my people Israel,
       for they scattered my people among the nations
       and divided up my land.

 ³ They cast lots for my people
       and traded boys for prostitutes;
       they sold girls for wine
       that they might drink.

 ⁴ "Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. ⁵ For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. ⁶ You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

 ⁷ "See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away." The LORD has spoken.

 ⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
       Prepare for war!
       Rouse the warriors!
       Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

 ¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
       and your pruning hooks into spears.
       Let the weakling say,
       "I am strong!"

 ¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
       and assemble there.
       Bring down your warriors, O LORD!

 ¹² "Let the nations be roused;
       let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
       for there I will sit
       to judge all the nations on every side.

 ¹³ Swing the sickle,
       for the harvest is ripe.
       Come, trample the grapes,
       for the winepress is full
       and the vats overflow—
       so great is their wickedness!"

 ¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes
       in the valley of decision!
       For the day of the LORD is near
       in the valley of decision.

 ¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened,
       and the stars no longer shine.

 ¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion
       and thunder from Jerusalem;
       the earth and the sky will tremble.
       But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,
       a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God's People

 ¹⁸ "In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
       and the hills will flow with milk;
       all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
       A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house
       and will water the valley of acacias. ^[n]

 ¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate,
       Edom a desert waste,
       because of violence done to the people of Judah,
       in whose land they shed innocent blood.

 ²⁰ Judah will be inhabited forever
       and Jerusalem through all generations.

 ²¹ Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned,
       I will pardon."
       The LORD dwells in Zion!

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Revelation 5

The Scroll and the Lamb

 ⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits^[a] of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song:
   "You are worthy to take the scroll
      and to open its seals,
   because you were slain,
      and with your blood you purchased men for God
      from every tribe and language and people and nation.
 ¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
      and they will reign on the earth."

 ¹¹Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹²In a loud voice they sang:
   "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
   and honor and glory and praise!"

 ¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
   "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
   be praise and honor and glory and power,
         for ever and ever!" ¹⁴The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.