
{1}1{/}

{I}1_{/}This is the word of Yahweh that came to Joel, son of Pethuel.
The attack of the locusts
{I}2_{/}Hear this, you elders!
Listen, all you, land dwellers!
Has such happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? 
{I}3_{/}Tell it to your children, then your children to their 
children, and then their children to the next generation.
[=]_{I}4_{/}What the cutting locusts left, the swarming locusts ate. 
What the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts ate. What the 
hopping locusts left, the destroying locusts ate.
{I}5_{/}Wake up, drunkards, and weep! Wail, drinkers of wine, because 
of the sweet wine withheld from your mouths. [=]_{I}6_{/}A nation 
numerous and mighty has invaded my country.
It has the teeth of a lion and the fangs of a lioness. {I}7_{/}It has 
destroyed my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off 
their bark and left white their branches.
{I}8_{/}Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of 
her youth. 
{R}_{I}9_{/}Grain and drink offerings are not found in the House of 
Yahweh. The priests who minister before Yahweh are in mourning. 
{I}10_{/}The fields are in ruin, the earth mourns, for the grain is 
destroyed; the wine fails and the oil dries up.
{I}11_{/}Grieve, O you farmers; wail, O you vine growers, over the 
barley and the wheat, for the harvest of the field has perished. 
[=]_{I}12_{/}The vine withers, the fig tree wilts away; pomegranate, 
palm and apple - all the trees of the field dry up. Oh, how joy 
has faded away among all these people!
{R}_{I}13_{/}Gird yourselves, O priests, and weep; mourn, O ministers of 
the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my 
God! For the house of your God is deprived of grain and drink 
offering.
{R}_{I}14_{/}Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Summon the elders and all 
who live in the land into the house of your God, 
and cry out to Yahweh, {I}15_{/}"What a dreadful day - the day of 
Yahweh that draws near and comes as ruin from the Almighty!"
{R}_{I}16_{/}Has not the food been taken away from us before our very 
eyes, and joy and gladness too from the house of our God?
{I}17_{/}The seed under the clods lies shriveled; the granaries are in 
ruins, the barns are broken down, for the harvest has dried up. 
{I}18_{/}How the cattle groan! The herds wander and moan, for they 
have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep suffer. {I}19_{/}To you, 
Yahweh, I call. Fire has razed the open pasture; flames have 
burned the trees. {I}20_{/}Even wild beasts cry out to you for the 
streams have dried up, for the pastures have been devoured by 
fire.

{1}2{/}

[=]_{I}1_{/}Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy 
mountain! Let all dwellers in the land tremble, for the day of 
Yahweh is coming.
Yes, the day is fast approaching - [=]_{I}2_{/}a day of gloom and 
darkness, a day of clouds and blackness.
A vast and mighty army comes,
like dawn spreading over the mountain, such as has never occurred 
before nor will happen again in the future.
{R}_{I}3_{/}In front a fire devours,
behind a flame consumes.
The land ahead that appears like a garden soon becomes like a 
desert,
nothing escapes their onslaught.
[=]_{I}4_{/}They look like horses,
they gallop along like chargers.
{I}5_{/}With the clattering of chariots,
they leap over the mountains;
with crackling like burning stubble,
they charge - a mighty army arrayed for battle.
{I}6_{/}Before them nations are appalled,
and every face turns pale.
{I}7_{/}They attack like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
Marching in line, they move onward
without swerving from their course,
{I}8_{/}without jostling one another, everyone of them marches 
straight ahead;
amid a hail of arrows they run,
they press without breaking ranks.
{I}9_{/}They rush upon the city;
they leap over the walls; 
they break into the houses,
like thieves enter through the windows.
{I}10_{/}Before them the earth shakes
and the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon grow dark
and the stars lose their twinkle.
[=]_{I}11_{/}Yahweh thunders before his army,
his vast and mighty forces.
The day of Yahweh is exceedingly great, terrible and dreadful - 
who can endure it?

{N}RETURN TO ME WITH WEEPING{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}Yahweh says, "Yet even now, return to me with your 
whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. {R}_{I}13_{/}Rend your 
heart, not your garment. Return to Yahweh, your God - gracious and 
compassionate."
Yahweh is slow to anger, full of kindness, and he repents of 
having punished.
[=]_{R}_{I}14_{/}Who knows? Probably he will relent once more and spare 
some part of the harvest from which we may bring sacred offerings 
to Yahweh, your God.
{I}15_{/}Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a sacred fast, call a 
solemn assembly.
{I}16_{/}Gather the people, sanctify the community, bring together the 
elders, even the children and infants at the breast. Let the 
bridegroom leave his bed, and the bride her room.
[=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, 
Yahweh's ministers, weep and say: Spare your people, Yahweh. Do 
not humble them or make them an object of scorn among the nations. 
Why should it be said among the peoples: Where is their God?
[=]_{I}18_{/}Yahweh has become jealous for his land; he has had pity 
on his people. {I}19_{/}Yahweh has given an answer; he says to them, 
"I am sending you grain, new wine and oil which will fully satisfy 
you; never again will you be scorned by the nations.
{R}_{I}20_{/}I will drive far from you the enemy from the North and 
pursue him towards a land of drought and desolation: his vanguard 
to the Eastern Sea, his rearguard to the Western Sea. Its stench 
will rise everywhere. See that I do great things." 
{I}21_{/}Fear not, O earth! exult and rejoice for Yahweh has acted 
magnificently! {R}_{I}22_{/}Do not be afraid, beasts of the field, for 
the desert prairies are green again, the trees are with fruit, the 
fig tree and the vine have yielded their riches.
{R}_{I}23_{/}Sons of Zion, be glad! Rejoice in Yahweh your God, for he 
has sent you the blessing of autumn rain and showers - the autumn 
and spring rains as in the past. {I}24_{/}The threshing-floors will be 
full of grain, the vats overflowing with new wine and oil.
{I}25_{/}I will compensate you for the years devastated by 
grasshoppers, may-bugs, crickets and locusts - the powerful army I 
sent against you. {R}_{I}26_{/}You will eat and be satisfied, and you 
will praise the name of Yahweh, your God, who has done wonders for 
you.
[=]_{R}_{I}27_{/}And then you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, 
I, Yahweh your God, no other! Never again will my people be 
shamed.

{N}I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT{/}

{1}3{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on every 
mortal.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
{R}_{I}2_{/}Even upon my servants and maidens,
I will pour out my Spirit on that day.
{I}3_{/}I will show wonders in the heavens,
and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke.
[=]_{R}_{I}4_{/}The sun will darken and the moon turn to blood
at the approach of the great and dreadful day of God.
[=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}Then all who call upon the name of Yahweh will be saved.
For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant,
as Yahweh has said;
in Jerusalem some will be saved -
those whom Yahweh will call.

{N}THE FINAL BATTLE AND SALVATION{/}

{1}4{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}In those days and at that time when I reestablish Judah 
and Jerusalem, {R}_{I}2_{/}I shall let all the nations gather together 
and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I shall uphold against 
them the cause of Israel, my people and my heritage. For they have 
dispersed them among the nations and divided my land. [=]_{I}3_{/}They 
cast lots for my people; they gave a boy for a harlot, and a girl 
for the wine they drank.
{I}4_{/}And you Tyre and Sidon, and all the districts of Philistia, 
what are you for me? Will you take revenge on me? If you want to 
do that, swiftly and immediately will I take reprisals against 
you! {I}5{/}You who carried off my silver and gold and my finest 
jewelry to your temples!
{R}_{I}6_{/}You sold to the Greeks the people of Judah and Jerusalem 
removing them far away from their own land. {R}_{I}7_{/}But now I am 
going to summon them from wherever you sold them, and I will 
return your deed on your head. {I}8_{/}Yahweh says: I will sell your 
sons and daughters to{I}_{/}the Judeans who will then sell them to the 
Sabaeans in a distant land.
[=]_{I}9_{/}Make this known among the nations, proclaim the holy war, 
call the warriors, let men of war advance! [=]_{I}10_{/}Hammer your 
plowshares into swords, your sickles into spears! Let the weak 
say: I am a warrior! And the meek: I too will fight!
{I}11_{/}Come quickly, neighboring nations, and assemble! {R}_{I}12_{/}Rise 
up, O peoples, and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, nations.
[=]_{I}13_{/}Bring a sickle for the harvest is ripe; come and tread 
for the winepress is full and the vats overflow, so great is their 
wickedness!
{I}14_{/}Multitudes and more multitudes in the Valley of Verdict! The 
day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of Verdict! {I}15{/}The sun and 
the moon become dark, the stars lose their radiance. 
[=]_{I}16{/}Yahweh roars from Zion and raises his voice from 
Jerusalem; heaven and earth are shaken. Indeed Yahweh is a refuge 
for his people, a stronghold for the sons of Israel. {I}17{/}You will 
know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy 
mountain. Jerusalem will be a holy place, and foreigners will 
never pass through there again.
{R}_{I}18_{/}On that day the mountains shall drip wine and the hills flow 
with milk; all the streams of Judah will run with water and a 
fountain will spring from the House of Yahweh, and water the 
valley of Shittim.
{R}_{I}19_{/}On the other hand, Egypt will be devastated and Edom will 
become a deserted wasteland because they committed violence 
against Judah, and shed innocent blood in their country. {R}_{I}20_{/}But 
Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem through all 
generations. {I}21_{/}And I shall avenge their blood and not leave it 
unpunished, for Yahweh dwells in Zion.

