Joel 1-2

GOD’S WORD Translation

⁵ Wake up and cry, you drunks!
Cry loudly, you wine drinkers!
New wine has been taken away from you.
⁶ A strong nation attacked my land.
It has too many soldiers to count.
They have teeth like lions.
They have fangs like grown lions.
⁷ They destroyed my grapevines.
They ruined my fig trees.
They stripped off what they could eat,
threw the rest away, and left the branches bare.

⁸ Cry loudly like a young woman who is dressed in sackcloth,
mourning for the man she was going to marry.
⁹ Grain offerings and wine offerings
are no longer brought to the Lord’s temple.
The priests, the Lord’s servants, mourn.
¹⁰ Israel’s fields are ruined, and the ground is dried up.
The grain has been destroyed.
The new wine has dried up.
The olive oil has run out.
¹¹ Be sad, you farmers!
Cry loudly, you grape growers!
Mourn for the wheat and the barley.
The harvest is destroyed in the field.
¹² The grapevines are dried up.
The fig trees are withered.
The pomegranate, palm, and apricot trees,
as well as all the trees in the orchards, have died.
Yes, the joy of these people has died too.

¹³ Put on your sackcloth and mourn, you priests.
Cry loudly, you servants of the altar.
Spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God.
Grain offerings and wine offerings
are withheld from your God’s temple.
¹⁴ Schedule a time to fast!
Call for an assembly!
Gather the leaders and everyone who lives in the land.
Bring them to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry to the Lord for help.

¹⁵ This will be a terrible day!
The day of the Lord is near,
and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

¹⁶ Food disappears right before our eyes.
Happiness and rejoicing disappear from our God’s temple.
¹⁷ Seeds shrivel up in their shells.
Storehouses are destroyed.
Barns are ruined.
The grain has dried up.
¹⁸ The animals groan.
Herds of cattle wander around confused.
There’s no pasture for them.
Even flocks of sheep are suffering.

¹⁹ O Lord, I cry to you for help!
Fire has burned up the open pastures.
Flames have burned up all the trees in the orchards.
²⁰ Even wild animals long for you.
Streams run dry.
Fire has burned up the open pastures.

³ In front of this army a fire burns.
Behind it flames are blazing.
In front of it the land is like the garden of Eden.
Behind it the land is like a barren desert.
Nothing escapes it!

⁴ The soldiers look like horses.
They run like war horses.
⁵ As they leap on mountaintops,
they sound like rattling chariots,
like crackling fire burning up straw,
and like a mighty army prepared for battle.

⁶ People are terrified in their presence.
Every face turns pale.

⁷ They run like warriors.
They climb walls like soldiers.
They march straight ahead.
They do not leave their places.
⁸ They do not crowd one another.
They keep in their own lines.
Even when they break through the defenses,
they do not break their ranks.
⁹ They rush into the city.
They run along the wall.
They climb into houses.
They enter through windows like thieves.

¹⁰ The earth quakes in their presence,
and the sky shakes.
The sun and the moon turn dark,
and the stars no longer shine.
¹¹ The Lord shouts out orders to his army.
His forces are very large.
The troops that carry out his commands are mighty.
The day of the Lord is extremely terrifying.
Who can endure it?

¹³ Tear your hearts, not your clothes.
Return to the Lord your God.
He is merciful and compassionate,
patient, and always ready to forgive
and to change his plans about disaster.
¹⁴ Who knows?
He may reconsider and change his plan
and leave a blessing for you.
Then you could give grain offerings and wine offerings
to the Lord your God.

¹⁵ Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.
Schedule a time to fast.
Call for an assembly.
¹⁶ Gather the people.
Prepare them for a holy meeting.
Assemble the leaders.
Gather the children, even the nursing infants.

Grooms leave their rooms.
Brides leave their chambers.
¹⁷ The priests who serve the Lord cry
between the altar and the entrance to the temple.
They say,
“Spare your people, O Lord.
Don’t let the people who belong to you become a disgrace.
Don’t let the nations ridicule them.
Why should people ask, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

²⁰ “I will keep the northern ⌞army⌟ far from you,
and I will force it into a dry and barren land.
The soldiers in front will be forced into the eastern sea.
The soldiers in back will be forced into the western sea.
A foul odor will rise from the dead bodies.
They will stink.”

He has done great things!
²¹ Land, do not be afraid.
Be glad and rejoice.
The Lord has done great things!
²² Wild animals, do not be afraid.
The pastures in the wilderness have turned green.
The trees have produced their fruit.
There are plenty of figs and grapes.
²³ People of Zion, be glad and find joy in the Lord your God.
The Lord has given you the Teacher of Righteousness.^[b]
He has sent the autumn rain and the spring rain as before.
²⁴ The threshing floors ^[c] will be filled with grain.
The vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

²⁵ “Then I will repay you for the years
that the mature locusts, the adult locusts,
the grasshoppers, and the young locusts ate your crops.
(They are the large army that I sent against you.)
²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, and you will be full.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has performed miracles for you.
My people will never be ashamed again.
²⁷ You will know that I am in Israel.
I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
My people will never be ashamed again.^[d]

³² Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Those who escape will be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.
Among the survivors will be those whom the Lord calls,
as the Lord has promised.