The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old
men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days,
or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your
children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which
the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust
hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath
left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all
ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your
mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number,
whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great
lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it
clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The
meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the
priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth;
for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye
ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for
the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up,
and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and
the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is
withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests:
howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of
my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the
house of your God.
Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the
inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the
LORD, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction
from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea,
joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their
clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn
is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed,
because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O
LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the
wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of
the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire
hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all
the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is
nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people
and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more
after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them;
and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before
them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape
them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of
mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people
shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like
mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march
every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one
thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon
the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city;
they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall
enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the
heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars
shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his
army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for
the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and
with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and
not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him;
even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the
people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children,
and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber,
and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD,
weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O
LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the LORD
will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine,
and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a
reproach among the heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern
army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward
the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall
come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not
afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for
the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be
glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath
given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for
you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the
floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And
I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm,
and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among
you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the
LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall
never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that
I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be
ashamed.
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will
shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for
in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said,
and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring
them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for
my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have
given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea,
and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of
Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly
and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; Because ye
have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my
goodly pleasant things: The children also of Judah and the children of
Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far
from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have
sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: And I will
sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and
they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath
spoken it.
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men,
let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares
into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am
strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come
down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of
Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in
the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the
fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The
sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the
hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye
know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then
shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any
more.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new
wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow
with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and
shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall
be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell for
ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their
blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.