Joel 1-2

Common English Bible

² Hear this, elders;
    pay attention, everyone in the land!
Has anything like this ever happened in your days,
    or in the days of your ancestors?^[a]
3 Tell it to your children,
    and have your children tell their children,
    and their children tell their children.
⁴ What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten.
And what the hopping locust left,
    the devouring locust has eaten.^[b]
5 Wake up, you who drink too much, and weep.
Scream over the sweet wine,
    all you wine drinkers,
    because it is snatched from your mouth;
⁶     because a nation, powerful and beyond number,
        has invaded my land.

¹³ Dress for a funeral and grieve, you priests;
        lament, ministers of the altar.
    Come, spend the night in funeral clothing, servants of my God,
    because the grain offering and the drink offering
        have gone from the temple of your God.
¹⁴ Demand a fast,
        request a special assembly.
    Gather the elders
        and all the land’s people
        to the temple of the Lord your God,
            and cry out to the Lord.

¹⁵ What a terrible day!
    The day of the Lord is near;
        it comes like chaos from the Almighty.^[d]
16 Isn’t the food cut off
    right before our eyes?
    Aren’t joy and gladness also gone from our God’s house?
¹⁷ The grain shrivels under the shovels;^[e]
    the barns are empty.
The granaries are in ruin
    because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ How the animals groan!
    Herds of cattle are in distress
        because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep pant.

¹⁹ To you, Lord, I cry,
    for fire has completely destroyed
        the pastures of the wilderness;
    and flames have burned
        all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the field’s wild animals cry to you
        because the streams have dried up;
    the fire has completely destroyed
        the meadows of the wilderness.

2 Blow the horn in Zion;
    give a shout on my holy mountain!
Let all the people of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is near—
²     a day of darkness and no light,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread out upon the mountains,
    a great and powerful army^[f] comes,
        unlike any that has ever come before them,
        or will come after them in centuries ahead.
³ In front of them a fire consumes;
    and behind them a flame burns.
Land ahead of them is like Eden’s garden,
    but they leave behind them a barren wasteland;
        nothing escapes them.
⁴ They resemble horses,
    and like warhorses they charge,
⁵         like the rumbling of chariots.
They leap on the mountaintops—
    like the crackling of a fire’s flame,
        devouring the stubble;
    like a powerful army
        ready for battle.
⁶ In their presence, peoples shake with fear;
    all faces turn red with worry.
⁷ Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they climb the wall.
Each keeps to their own path;
    they didn’t change their course.
⁸ They don’t crowd each other;
    each keeps to their own path.
Even if they fall among the weapons,
    they won’t stop.
⁹ They rush upon the city;
    they run upon the walls.
They climb into the houses;
    they enter through the windows like thieves.
¹⁰ The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens shake.
The sun and the moon are darkened;
    the stars have stopped shining,
¹¹     because the Lord utters his voice
        at the head of his army.
How numerous are his troops!
    Mighty are those who obey his word.
The day of the Lord is great;
    it stirs up great fear—who can endure it?

¹² Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your hearts,
        with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow;
¹³ tear your hearts
        and not your clothing.
    Return to the Lord your God,
        for he is merciful and compassionate,
        very patient, full of faithful love,
            and ready to forgive.
¹⁴ Who knows whether he will have a change of heart
    and leave a blessing behind him,
    a grain offering and a drink offering
            for the Lord your God?
¹⁵ Blow the horn in Zion;
        demand a fast;
        request a special assembly.
¹⁶ Gather the people;
        prepare a holy meeting;
        assemble the elders;
        gather the children,
            even nursing infants.
Let the groom leave his room
        and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Between the porch and the altar
        let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep.
    Let them say, “Have mercy, Lord, on your people,
        and don’t make your inheritance a disgrace,
        an example of failure among the nations.
    Why should they say among the peoples,
        ‘Where is their God?’”

¹⁹ The Lord responded to the people:
See, I am sending you
    the corn, new wine, and fresh oil,
        and you will be fully satisfied by it;
    and I will no longer make you
        a disgrace among the nations.
²⁰ I will remove the northern army far from you
    and drive it into a dried-up and desolate land,
        its front into the eastern sea,
        and its rear into the western sea.
    Its stench will rise up;
        its stink will come to the surface.
The Lord is about to do great things!
²¹ Don’t fear, fertile land;
    rejoice and be glad,
    for the Lord is about to do great things!
²² Don’t be afraid, animals of the field,
        for the meadows of the wilderness will turn green;
    the tree will bear its fruit;
        the fig tree and grapevine will give their full yield.
²³ Children of Zion,
        rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God,
    because he will give you the early rain as a sign of righteousness;
        he will pour down abundant rain for you,
            the early and the late rain, as before.^[h]
24 The threshing floors will be full of grain;
        the vats will overflow with new wine and fresh oil.
²⁵ I will repay you for the years
        that the cutting locust,
    the swarming locust, the hopping locust, and the devouring locust have eaten—
        my great army, which I sent against you.
²⁶ You will eat abundantly and be satisfied,
        and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has done wonders for you;
        and my people will never again be put to shame.
²⁷ You will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
        and that I am the Lord your God—no other exists;
        never again will my people be put to shame.
²⁸ After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone;
        your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
        your old men will dream dreams,
        and your young men will see visions.
²⁹ In those days, I will also pour out my
    spirit on the male and female slaves.