JOEL.
1 The word of Yahweh which came unto Joel son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye elders, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land,—Hath this ever happened in your days? Or in the days of your fathers?
3 Concerning it to your children tell ye the story,—And your children to their children, And their children to the generation following:—
4 That which was left by the creeping locust hath the swarming locust eaten, And that which was left by the swarming locust hath the grass locust eaten; And that which was left by the grass locust hath the corn locust eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And howl, all ye drinkers of wine,—Over the new wine because it hath been cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation hath come up over my land, Bold and without number,—His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And the fangs of a lioness hath he!
7 He hath turned my vine to a waste, And my fig-tree to splinters,—He hath barked it clean and cast it down, Bleached are its branches.
8 Wail thou, like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the owner of her youth.
9 Cut off are the meal-offering and the drink-offering from the house of Yahweh,—In grief are the priests, the attendants on Yahweh:—
10 Laid waste is the field, In grief is the soil,—For laid waste is the corn, Abashed is the new wine, Languisheth the oil.
11 Turn pale, ye husbandmen, Howl, ye vinedressers, Over the wheat and over the barley,—For perished is the harvest of the field.
12 The vine is abashed, And the fig-tree languisheth,—Pomegranate, palm also and apple—All the trees of the field have withered, Yea abashed is gladness, away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves and beat the breast—ye priests, Howl, ye attendants of the altar, Go in and wrap yourselves for the night in sackcloth, ye attendants on my God,—For withholden from the house of your God are the meal-offering and the drink-offering.
14 Hallow ye a fast, Call a solemn assembly, Gather, O elders, all the inhabitants of the land, unto the house of Yahweh your God,—And make ye outcry unto Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day! For near is the day of Yahweh, And as a veritable Destruction from the Destroyer shall it come.
16 Is it not before our eyes that food hath been cut off? From the house of our God rejoicing and exultation.
17 Rotted hath the seed under their clods, Laid waste are their stores, Thrown down are the garners,—Yea abashed is the corn.
18 How do the beasts groan! Perplexed are the herds of oxen, Because there is no pasture for them,—Even the flocks of sheep are destroyed!
19 Unto thee O Yahweh will I cry,—For a fire hath consumed the pastures of the wilderness, And a flame hath set ablaze all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field moan unto thee,—Because dried up are the channels of water, And a fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
2 Blow ye a horn in Zion, Sound an alarm in my holy mountain, Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,—For coming is the day of Yahweh, For it is near!—
2 A day of obscurity and deep gloom, A day of cloud and thick darkness, As dusk spread over the mountains,—A people, many and bold, Like whom hath not been from age-past times, And after whom shall not be again unto the years of generation after generation.
3 Before him hath a fire devoured, And after him shall a flame consume,—As the garden of Eden is the land before him But after him a desert most desolate, Moreover also escape giveth he none.
4 As the appearance of horses is his appearance, And as war-horses so shall they run:
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains shall they rattle along, Like the noise of a flame of fire devouring dry straw,—Like a people bold, arrayed for battle.
6 Because of him shall peoples be in anguish,—All faces have withdrawn their colour.
7 Like heroes shall they run, Like men of war shall they mount a wall,—And every one—along his own road shall they march along, And shall not change their paths;
8 Nor against each other shall they strike, Each—on his own highway shall they march,—Though in among the weapons they fall they shall not stop.
9 Upon the city shall they leap, On the wall shall they run, Up the houses shall they climb,—Through the windows shall they enter like a thief.
10 Before him hath quaked the earth, have trembled the heavens,—The sun and the moon have become dark, And the stars have withdrawn their shining;
11 And Yahweh hath uttered his voice before his host, For great indeed is his camp, For bold is he who executeth his word,—For great is the day of Yahweh and awful exceedingly, Who then shall endure it?
12 Even now therefore, Urgeth Yahweh, Turn ye unto me with all your heart,—And with fasting and with weeping and with lamentation;
13 And rend your heart and not your garments, Turn therefore unto Yahweh your God,—For gracious and full of compassion is he, Slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, And will grieve over Calamity.
14 Who knoweth, he may turn and grieve,—And leave behind him a blessing, A meal-offering and a drink-offering to Yahweh your God?
15 Blow ye a horn in Zion,—Hallow a fast, Call a solemn assembly:
16 Gather the people, Hallow a convocation, Collect the elders, Gather the children and the sucklings of the breasts,—Let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber, And the bride from her bower:
17 Between the porch and the altar let the priests weep, the attendants of Yahweh,—And let them say—Look with pity, O Yahweh, upon thy people And do not deliver thine inheritance to reproach That the nations should mock them, Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?
18 And Yahweh became jealous for his land,—And took pity on his people;
19 Then answered Yahweh and said to his people:—Behold me! sending you the corn and the new wine and the oil, So shall ye be satisfied therewith; And I will not make you any more a reproach among the nations.
20 And the Northerner will I remove far from you And drive him into a land parched and desolate, With his face toward the eastern sea, And his rear toward the hinder sea,—Then shall come up his ill odour, Yea his stench shall ascend Because he hath shewn himself great in doing.
21 Be not thou afraid, O soil,—Exult and rejoice, Because Yahweh hath shewn himself great in doing.
22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, For sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness,—For the tree hath borne its fruit, The fig-tree and the vine have yielded their wealth.
23 Ye sons of Zion then exult and be glad in Yahweh your God, For he hath given you the seed-rain in right manner,—Yea he hath caused to descend for you a down-pour of seed-rain and of the harvest-rain in the first month;
24 So shall the threshing-floors be filled with corn,—And the vats overflow with new wine and oil.
25 Then will I make good to you the years which were eaten by the swarming locust, the grass locust and the corn locust and the creeping locust,—even my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat and eat and be satisfied, And shall praise the name of Yahweh your God, Who hath dealt with you wondrously,—So shall my people not be abashed unto times age-abiding.
27 So shall ye know that in the midst of Israel I am, And that I Yahweh am your God and none else,—And my people shall not be abashed unto times age-abiding.
28 And it shall come to pass afterwards 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;
29 Moreover also upon the servants and upon the handmaids—in those days will I pour out my spirit;
30 And I will set forth wonders in the heavens and in the earth,—Blood and fire, and columns of smoke:
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood,—Before the coming of the great and awful day of Yahweh.
32 And it shall come to pass Whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered,—For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be a delivered remnant Just as Yahweh hath said, And among the survivors whom Yahweh doth call.
3 For lo! in those days and at that time,—When I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem
2 Then will I gather all the nations, And bring them down into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,—And will enter into judgment with them there Concerning my people and mine inheritance Israel Whom they scattered among the nations, And my land they apportioned;
3 And for my people they cast lots,—And gave a Boy for a harlot, And a Girl sold they for wine—and drank.
4 Moreover also what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, And all the circuit of Palestine? A recompense are ye paying back unto me? But though ye should make a recompense unto me Swiftly, speedily would I return your recompense upon your own head.
5 Because my silver and my gold ye took away,—And my richly beautiful things carried ye into your temples;
6 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem ye sold to the sons of Greece,—That they might be far removed from their own boundary.
7 Behold me! rousing them up out of the place whither ye sold them,—So will I bring back your dealing upon your own head.
8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, And they will sell them to Sabeans unto a nation afar off,—For Yahweh hath spoken.
9 Proclaim ye this among the nations, Hallow a war, Rouse the mighty ones, Let them draw near, come up all the men of war!
10 Beat your plough-shares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into spears,—As for the weak let him say, Mighty I am.
11 Give help—and come in, all ye nations on every side, and gather yourselves together,—Thither bring down, O Yahweh, thy mighty ones!
12 Let the nations be roused and come up into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,—For there will I sit to judge all the nations on every side.
13 Thrust ye in the vintage knife, For grown ripe is the vintage,—Go in, tread down For full is the winepress, Flow over do the vats, For abundant is their wickedness.
14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the vale of strict decision,—For near is the day of Yahweh, in the vale of strict decision.
15 The sun and the moon have become dark,—And the stars have withdrawn their shining,
16 And Yahweh out of Zion will roar And out of Jerusalem will utter his voice, And the heavens and the earth shall tremble,—But Yahweh shall be a shelter to his people, And a refuge to the sons of Israel.
17 So shall ye know that I Yahweh am your God, making my habitation in Zion my holy mountain,—So shall Jerusalem be holy, And foreigners shall pass through her no more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip sweet wine And the hills shall flow down with milk, And all the channels of Judah shall flow down with waters,—And a spring out of the house of Yahweh shall come forth, And shall water the torrent-valley of the acacias.
19 Egypt to a desolation shall be turned, And Edom to a desert most desolate shall be changed,—Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In that they shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah age-abidingly shall remain, And Jerusalem to generation after generation.
21 And I will free from their blood-guiltiness them whom I had not freed,—For Yahweh is about to make his habitation in Zion.