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The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethu′el:
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The cereal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
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Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry to the Lord.
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Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
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Unto thee, O Lord, I cry. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
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Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near,
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The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his host is exceedingly great; he that executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?
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“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
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and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil.
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Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God?
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Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare thy people, O Lord, and make not thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
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God’s Response and Promise
Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.
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The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
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“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!
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“Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
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“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 shall never again be put to shame.
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You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
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The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.
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And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
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I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabe′ans, to a nation far off; for the Lord has spoken.”
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Hasten and come, all you nations round about, gather yourselves there. Bring down thy warriors, O Lord.
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Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
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And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.
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The Glorious Future of Judah
“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall never again pass through it.
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“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim.
