Joel 2:12-25

English Standard Version

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?

¹⁵^(J)Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    ^(K)consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
¹⁶    gather the people.
^(L)Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
^(M)gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
^(N)Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷^(O)Between the ^(P)vestibule and the ^(Q)altar
    ^(R)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]
^(S)Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

The Lord Had Pity

¹⁸^(T)Then the Lord became jealous for his land
    ^(U)and had pity on his people.
¹⁹The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, ^(V)I am sending to you
    grain, wine, and oil,
    ^(W)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 ^(X)the eastern sea,
    and his rear guard^[c] into ^(Y)the western sea;
^(Z)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 ^(AA)the Lord has done great things!
²²Fear not, ^(AB)you beasts of the field,
    for ^(AC)the pastures of the wilderness are green;
^(AD)the tree bears its fruit;
    the fig tree and ^(AE)vine give their full yield.

²³^(AF)“Be glad, O children of Zion,
    and ^(AG)rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given ^(AH)the early rain for your vindication;
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    ^(AI)the early and ^(AJ)the latter rain, as before.

²⁴“The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
²⁵I will restore^[d] to you the years
    that ^(AK)the swarming locust has eaten,
^(AL)the hopper, ^(AM)the destroyer, and ^(AN)the cutter,
    ^(AO)my great army, which I sent among you.