Joel 1 - 2 - Legacy Standard Bible

Joel 1 - 2

The Locusts Bring Desolation

The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: 2

Hear this, O elders,

And give ear, all inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this happened in your days

Or in your fathers’ days?

Recount about it to your sons,

And let your sons recount about it to their sons,

And their sons to the next generation.

What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed;

And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed;

And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has consumed.

Awake, drunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you wine drinkers,

On account of the sweet wine

That is cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up against my land,

Mighty and without number;

Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And it has the fangs of a lioness.

It has made my vine a desolation

And my fig tree splinters.

It has stripped them bare and cast them away;

Their branches have become white.

Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth

For the bridegroom of her youth.

The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

From the house of Yahweh.

The priests mourn,

The ministers of Yahweh.

The field is destroyed;

The land mourns,

For the grain is destroyed,

The new wine dries up,

Fresh oil fails.

Be ashamed, O farmers,

Wail, O vinedressers,

For the wheat and the barley,

Because the harvest of the field perishes.

The vine dries up,

And the fig tree fails;

The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,

All the trees of the field dry up.

Indeed, rejoicing dries up

From the sons of men.

The Day of Yahweh Is Near

Gird yourselves with sackcloth

And lament, O priests;

Wail, O ministers of the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth,

O ministers of my God;

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

Set apart a fast as holy,

Call for a solemn assembly;

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

To the house of Yahweh your God,

And cry out to Yahweh.

Alas for the day!

For the day of Yahweh is near,

And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Has not food been cut off before our eyes,

Gladness and joy from the house of our God?

The seeds shrivel under their clods;

The storehouses are desolate;

The barns are pulled down,

For the grain is dried up.

How the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle wander aimlessly

Because there is no pasture for them;

Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

To You, O Yahweh, I cry;

For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness,

And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

Even the beasts of the field pant for You;

For the water brooks are dried up,

And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.

Blow a trumpet in Zion,

And make a loud shout on My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

For the day of Yahweh is coming;

Surely it is near,

A day of darkness and thick darkness,

A day of clouds and dense gloom.

As the dawn is spread over the mountains,

So there is a numerous and mighty people;

There has never been anything like it,

Nor will there be again after it

For the years from generation to generation.

A fire consumes before them,

And behind them a flame burns.

The land is like the garden of Eden before them

But a desolate wilderness behind them,

And nothing at all escapes them.

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like war horses, so they run.

With a noise as of chariots

They leap on the tops of the mountains,

Like the crackling of a flame of fire consumes the stubble,

Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

Before them the peoples are writhing;

All faces turn pale.

They run like mighty men;

They climb up the wall like men of war;

And they each march in line,

And they do not deviate from their paths.

They do not crowd each other;

They march everyone in his path;

When they fall against the defending weapons,

They do not break ranks.

They rush on the city;

They run on the wall;

They climb up into the houses;

They enter through the windows like a thief.

Before them the earth trembles;

The heavens quake;

The sun and the moon grow dark,

And the stars lose their brightness.

But Yahweh gives forth His voice before His military force;

Surely His camp is very numerous,

For mighty is he who does His word.

The day of Yahweh is indeed great and very awesome,

And who can endure it?

Return to Yahweh

“Yet even now,” declares Yahweh,

“Return to Me with all your heart

And with fasting, weeping, and wailing;

And tear your heart and not your garments.”

Now return to Yahweh your God,

For He is gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,

And relenting concerning evil.

Who knows whether He will not turn and relent

And leave a blessing behind Him,

Even a grain offering and a drink offering

For Yahweh your God?

Blow a trumpet in Zion,

Set apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly,

Gather the people, set apart the congregation as holy,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the infants and the nursing babies.

Let the bridegroom come out of his room

And the bride out of her bridal chamber.

Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh,

Weep between the porch and the altar,

And let them say, “Pity Your people, O Yahweh,

And do not make Your inheritance a reproach,

A byword among the nations.

Why should they among the peoples say,

‘Where is their God?’”

Yahweh Will Spare His People

Then Yahweh will be zealous for His land

And will spare His people.

Then Yahweh will answer and say to His people,

“Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil,

And you will be satisfied in full with them;

And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

But I will remove the northern military force far from you,

And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,

And its vanguard into the eastern sea,

And its rear guard into the western sea.

And its stench will rise up, and its foul smell will rise up,

For it has done great things.”

Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,

For Yahweh has done great things.

Do not fear, beasts of the field,

For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,

For the tree has borne its fruit;

The fig tree and the vine have yielded their full force.

So rejoice, O sons of Zion,

And be glad in Yahweh your God,

For He has given you the early rain in righteousness.

And He has poured down for you the rain,

The early and late rains as before.

The threshing floors will be full of grain,

And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.

“Then I will pay back to you in full for the years

That the swarming locust has consumed,

The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust,

My great military force which I sent among you.

And you will have plenty to consume and be satisfied

And praise the name of Yahweh your God,

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

Then My people will never be put to shame.

Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,

And that I am Yahweh your God,

And there is no other;

And My people will never be put to shame.

Yahweh Will Pour Out His Spirit

“And it will be afterwards

That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;

Your old men will dream dreams;

Your young men will see visions.

Even on the male slaves and female slaves

I will in those days pour out My Spirit.

Deliverance in the Day of Yahweh

And I will put wonders in the sky and on the earth,

Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood

Before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes.

And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh

Will be delivered;

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

There will be those who escape,

As Yahweh has said,

Even among the survivors whom Yahweh calls.