Joel 2-3
English Standard Version
The Day of the Lord
2 (A)Blow a trumpet in (B)Zion;
sound an alarm on (C)my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for (D)the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 (E)a day of darkness and gloom,
(F)a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
(G)a great and powerful people;
(H)their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 (I)Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like (J)the garden of Eden before them,
but (K)behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 (L)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 (M)As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of (N)a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
(O)like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
(P)all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
(Q)each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 (R)They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
(S)they climb up into the houses,
(T)they enter through the windows (U)like a thief.
10 (V)The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
(W)The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 (X)The Lord utters his voice
before (Y)his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
(Z)he who executes his word is powerful.
(AA)For the day of the Lord is (AB)great and very awesome;
(AC)who can endure it?
Return to the Lord
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
(AD)“return to me with all your heart,
(AE)with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and (AF)rend your hearts and not (AG)your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
(AH)for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
(AI)and he relents over disaster.
14 (AJ)Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and (AK)leave a blessing behind him,
(AL)a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 (AM)Blow the trumpet in Zion;
(AN)consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
(AO)Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
(AP)gather the children,
even nursing infants.
(AQ)Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 (AR)Between the (AS)vestibule and the (AT)altar
(AU)let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.[a]
(AV)Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord Had Pity
18 (AW)Then the Lord became jealous for his land
(AX)and had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, (AY)I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
(AZ)and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard[b] into (BA)the eastern sea,
and his rear guard[c] into (BB)the western sea;
(BC)the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for (BD)the Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, (BE)you beasts of the field,
for (BF)the pastures of the wilderness are green;
(BG)the tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and (BH)vine give their full yield.
23 (BI)“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and (BJ)rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given (BK)the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
(BL)the early and (BM)the latter rain, as before.
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore[d] to you the years
that (BN)the swarming locust has eaten,
(BO)the hopper, (BP)the destroyer, and (BQ)the cutter,
(BR)my great army, which I sent among you.
26 (BS)“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 (BT)shall never again be put to shame.
27 (BU)You shall know that I am (BV)in the midst of Israel,
and that (BW)I am the Lord your God (BX)and there is none else.
And my people (BY)shall never again be put to shame.
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 [e] (BZ)“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that (CA)I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
(CB)your sons and (CC)your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 (CD)Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show (CE)wonders in the heavens and (CF)on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 (CG)The sun shall be turned to darkness, (CH)and the moon to blood, (CI)before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that (CJ)everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (CK)For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among (CL)the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
The Lord Judges the Nations
3 [f] “For behold, (CM)in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 (CN)I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And (CO)I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and (CP)have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
4 “What are you to me, (CQ)O Tyre and Sidon, and all (CR)the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, (CS)I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For (CT)you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.[g] 6 You have sold (CU)the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and (CV)I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the (CW)Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
(CX)Consecrate for war;[h]
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 (CY)Beat your plowshares into swords,
and (CZ)your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 (DA)Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
(DB)Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to (DC)the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
(DD)for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 (DE)Put in the sickle,
(DF)for the harvest is ripe.
(DG)Go in, tread,
(DH)for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For (DI)the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 (DJ)The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 (DK)The Lord roars from Zion,
and (DL)utters his voice from Jerusalem,
(DM)and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is (DN)a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
17 (DO)“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
(DP)who dwells in Zion, (DQ)my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and (DR)strangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
(DS)the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and (DT)all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
(DU)and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of (DV)Shittim.
19 (DW)“Egypt shall become a desolation
and (DX)Edom a desolate wilderness,
(DY)for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 (DZ)But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 (EA)I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,[i]
(EB)for the Lord dwells in Zion.”
Footnotes
- Joel 2:17 Or reproach, that the nations should rule over them
- Joel 2:20 Hebrew face
- Joel 2:20 Hebrew his end
- Joel 2:25 Or pay back
- Joel 2:28 Ch 3:1 in Hebrew
- Joel 3:1 Ch 4:1 in Hebrew
- Joel 3:5 Or palaces
- Joel 3:9 Or Consecrate a war
- Joel 3:21 Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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