Return to the Lord

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    (A)“return to me with all your heart,
(B)with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and (C)rend your hearts and not (D)your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    (E)for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    (F)and he relents over disaster.
14 (G)Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and (H)leave a blessing behind him,
(I)a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?

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Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return(A) to me with all your heart,(B)
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart(C)
    and not your garments.(D)
Return(E) to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,(F)
slow to anger and abounding in love,(G)
    and he relents from sending calamity.(H)
14 Who knows? He may turn(I) and relent(J)
    and leave behind a blessing(K)
grain offerings and drink offerings(L)
    for the Lord your God.

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25 I will restore[a] to you the years
    that (A)the swarming locust has eaten,
(B)the hopper, (C)the destroyer, and (D)the cutter,
    (E)my great army, which I sent among you.

26 (F)“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
    and praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people (G)shall never again be put to shame.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:25 Or pay back

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts(A) have eaten(B)
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm[a]
my great army(C) that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,(D)
    and you will praise(E) the name of the Lord your God,
    who has worked wonders(F) for you;
never again will my people be shamed.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.